He Doesn't Understand
by papercut ai
Summary: Deidara and Sasori are very different, and there are a lot of things they don't understand about each other. The Akatsuki, plotting, and mentally scarring leads to eventual DeiSas. has been changed to mature for later chapters
1. Art

Deidara walked into his and his partner's quarters to finish gathering the supplies for the mission they were about to begin. It was odd seeing Sasori out of Hiruko, and Deidara couldn't help but wonder what the puppeteer was up to.

Sasori looked up as Deidara directed a question to his back, "Danna, what are doing, yeah?" Sasori straightened and turned to look at his blond comrade.

"Just getting things ready." The redhead's face remained blank as Deidara asked again, "Ready for what, yeah?"

"For when you die." The blond kept his face impassive, but he was hurt that his partner thought him incapable of keeping up on the next mission. He had gotten into Akatsuki perfectly well, hadn't he? He was surely a capable ninja. So what was his Sasori-danna's problem?

"You will make a perfect weapon for me." The puppeteer explained.

"I already _am_ a perfect weapon, yeah." Deidara growled.

Sasori reached up towards Deidara's pale face, stroking his cheek and then tapping him roughly on the forehead, smirking, "Not quite, you do not _yet_ last forever."

The blond turned from his partner and muttered, "You can't, danna, yeah."

Had Sasori been able to show any real emotion, he would have been surprised as the clay artist continued, "I don't want to last forever, we've fought over this hundreds of times, yeah. Art and beauty are transient. No one is going to live forever, not you, not me, not Hidan-san, or Kakuzu-san, not even that Orochimaru, yeah.

Sasori glared at the blond for mentioning his previous partner, one whom he missed now and again. The snake man's presence hadn't made his insides churn and choke the way Deidara's did.

"People aren't art, your puppets made from people aren't art, yeah. They're imitation life, and I don't need a _fake_ one." The blond glared defiantly at the puppet master.

Sasori glared right back, but Deidara gave him a sly smirk in return. "Besides, Sasori-danna, I'm going to go out with a bang, yeah. I'm going to be a part of that final moment of explosion; the thing which I _live_ for, yeah, what I _create_ for. I'm going to explode into a thousand different pieces, and the sky is going to rain blood, yeah—_my_ blood. And that, Danna, is art."

Sasori looked at the blond with mild distaste, "That's sick."

"Maybe, but so is turning dead bodies into puppets, danna, yeah." Deidara replied scathingly.

Sasori could only blink as he watched the clay artist walk out of their little room saying, "Respect my _sick_ wishes Sasori-danna, yeah, and maybe I'll respect yours."

As Sasori watched him go, the only thoughts that could break through his muddled head were, "_Why doesn't he understand. The only reason I wish him to live forever, is because I can't live without him_." At this, he threw the screw driver he had been holding at the closed door, cursed under his breath, and moved to finish preparing for the mission.

On the other side of the door, Deidara cursed sourly and slammed his fist into the hard rock lining the hallway. "He'll never understand. Why do I have to feel, when I know he can't?" Deidara sighed and stalked off to find someone, anyone; anyone capable of living, breathing, and feeling.


	2. Revenge

As you may already have known, I don't own anything Naruto related.

So I'm told the beginning is a little slow, but...it needs to be there. Enjoy.

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**Revenge**

Deidara and Sasori had long since set out on their latest mission, a simple assassination, which should have taken at the most a week, including traveling time; but they were going on their third week. With weather, enemy ninjas, and each other working against them, they were both at wit's end.

Deidara had not spoken a single word since Sasori had yelled at him. It was beginning to unnerve the puppeteer; who in attempt to counter the silence was mentally driving himself insane.

"He had no right to do that, and no reason at all. He jeopardized the mission with that foolish, human act. I was right in yelling at him." Sasori thought furiously, but ended up giving the blond walking beside him a sidelong glance which made him want to smack himself.

Deidara had his hat pulled down, low over his face and was looking determinedly at the ground. This made Sasori's heart sputter and jolt, it was something he had never felt before. He'd have to ask someone what it meant when they got back to head-quarters.

He glanced at the blond again and growled, "Hurry up, brat. We can make it before noon if you hurry your useless ass up." Deidara's shoulders stiffened, but he quickened his pace.

* * *

They arrived at headquarters just after one, and headed to their leader's office to report in, and transfer the pay. When the two reached the door, Sasori huffed and grumbled to Deidara, "Just go clean up, I can handle it myself." 

The clay artist looked at his partner for the first time in three days. "I had better come, it's my fault we're late, yeah." He replied stiffly.

Sasori glared at the boy, "I'll handle it, just get out of my sight."

Deidara's face tensed as he bit back the retort that was almost bursting from his lips, but did as his partner said and headed back to their shared quarters.

Sasori turned to the door that lead to their leader's office, and let himself in quietly. He found his superior pouring over paperwork and waited to be addressed.

"Yes, Sasori?" The leader of the Akatsuki looked up.

"I am reporting back, and here is the pay for a mission completed." Sasori replied as he dropped the money on his boss' desk.

"You are two weeks later than I expected you." It was a statement, but Sasori knew there was a question behind it.

"It was my fault, sir—there was poor weather, my puppets are not fully operative in the rain, and when we were in battle, the second section of Hiruko's tail was damaged—I refused to move on until I had it in working order, in case of an attack by enemy forces." Sasori said carefully.

"Very well, you may go, but I expect you to be more timely with the next mission."

"Yes, sir." Sasori bid his boss good day and left the office quickly. He hated being in that room, it unnerved him, but he didn't know why.

The next thing on his list was to find someone who could explain the dull ache in his chest whenever he looked at Deidara's miserable expression. There had to be a reason, but he couldn't begin to imagine what it would be.

The first two he came upon were Itachi and Kisame, "Itachi-san, I have a—what am I asking you for? Kisame-san, could I ask you a question?"

The ex-mist ninja raised an eyebrow, and said "Sure," while his companion simply looked at the puppeteer blankly.

"I, on our mission, I mean, that idiot Deidara did something stupid and I yelled at him." Sasori began, but didn't know how to finish.

Kisame scrutinized him and said, "Yeah, so? What's the issue?"

"He's been in a foul mood ever since, and I can't stand to look at him like that…" The red head stated finally.

Kisame just looked at him, but to both their surprise, Itachi spoke, "What you are feeling is guilt."

Kisame openly gawked at his partner, and Sasori waited for him to continue.

"You feel bad about yelling at him—"

"No I don't." Sasori cut him off.

Itachi just looked at him and continued, "Yes you do. That's why you're upset about him being upset about what you said."

The red head looked at the former Konaha ninja and growled, "I don't have those kind of…problems."

"Say what you want, but that's what it is." Itachi retorted and walked away leaving Kisame and Sasori standing by themselves.

"Uh not to pry, but what did he do?" Kisame grunted finally.

"…He…saved my life."

The shark-like ninja looked at him blankly, "I thought you were bent on living forever, puppet-man."

"I will."

"Then why did you yell at him for something that benefited you?" Kisame replied slyly.

"He _jeopardized_ the _mission_." The puppet master ground his teeth together.

"And why did you lie for him in the boss' office?" Kisame's sharp teeth glinted in the light flickering in the hall.

Sasori didn't know how to reply, he just looked at the other ninja; how could he have known?

Kisame shouldered his giant sword, Samehada, clapped a hand on Sasori's shoulder and smirked, "Guilt."

He left Sasori to ponder this new feeling, guilt…

"_I couldn't thank him…so I yelled at him…and now I am feeling—…I'm_ feeling." The puppeteer tried to make sense of everything that he had just learned. "…_And what I'm feeling, is…guilt. Which means I feel bad about yelling at him…which means that…I should…apologize? _

With this realization, Sasori found himself hurrying to his room which he shared with the blond. He slid the door open, and called, "Br—Deidara?"

The clay artist looked up from his place on the floor, organizing his scrolls.

"I-I- Er, What I mean to say is, I'm…I'm sorry—that I yelled at you, for, what you…did." Sasori berated himself as he fumbled over the words.

Deidara held back the smile that threatened to spread across his features, "Thank you, danna, but are you really sorry, yeah, or are you just saying that because someone told you to?"

"Of course I mean it! I've never apologized in my life, and I'm not going to start just because some idiot tells me to!" Sasori growled, heatedly.

Deidara looked at his partner thoughtfully before smirking, "So I'm your first, danna, yeah?"

"Yes." Sasori growled.

Deidara cackled in delight, and stood up. "Well I'll just have to go tell everyone then." Deidara's amber eyes glinted mischievously.

The puppeteer looked at his partner uncomprehendingly, "Wha—" But Deidara had already moved past him and shouted down the hall, "I'M SASORI'S FIRST, YEAH!"

Sasori stiffened as he realized what Deidara had been insinuating. "YOU LITTLE BRAT, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Deidara just laughed and danced out of the puppet master's reach, taunting him. Kisame, Itachi, and Hidan had left their rooms to see what was going on. Kakuzu hadn't bothered, he couldn't care less.

Sasori finally grabbed a hold of the blond's wrist and forced him up against the nearby wall. "Take it back," he threatened.

"No." Deidara raised his visible eyebrow, challenging Sasori.

Sasori moved his face closer to Deidara's and whispered, "Do it."

"Do what, Sasori-danna, yeah?"

"You know what." Sasori's voice had dropped to a growl.

Their faces were inches apart, and Kisame thought it the opportune time to throw in his two cents, "GO FOR IT SASORI-SAN!" He catcalled, and nudged Itachi who rolled his eyes but appeased his partner.

"Yeah. Do it. Woo." Itachi mumbled in a monotone.

For the first time, Sasori looked at his position, and immediately released Deidara and backed away. "I-I-I hate all of you." He snarled viciously as he stalked away.

Kisame came to stand next to a snickering Deidara, "That was fun."

"And now he knows how much of an idiot I felt like when he yelled at me." Deidara replied an evil smirk on his face. "I feel a whole lot better now." Kisame sighed as Deidara skipped back to his room thinking happy thoughts about revenge.

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	3. Why

Disclaimer: If I actually owned these characters, would I be writing on I thought not.

Well, here's installment number three! Enjoy.

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Sasori had since retreated inside Hiruko and was still smarting after the public embarrassment he had been force fed; yet, he couldn't help but think that he had deserved it. 

How many times had he said things to Deidara for the purpose only to get a rise out of the blond? How many more times had he picked and pulled at any visible flaw he could find, making himself feel superior to his should be partner? The question, however, that irked him the most, that plagued him incessantly, was since when did he care?

He couldn't help but wonder if he was going soft. What was it about that stupid blond that made him second guess himself? He was a ruthless killer, he was a silent assassin, and yet he was feeling guilty over a few simple words he had thrown at the boy. There it was; that stupid word, guilt.

Sasori was sick of being stuck inside his own head, and the only way to get out would be human interaction. He shuddered; not one of his favorite activities, he needed the distraction and if that's what it took, so be it.

With whom could he have a marginally civilized conversation with? Definitely not Kisame, he was a jerk. Hidan and Kakuzu were out on a mission. That left Itachi and Zetsu.

He removed himself from the comforting confines of Hiruko and decided that whom ever he came upon first would be his conversation partner. If he were to continue avoiding Deidara, it would be much easier out of his puppet, and it was hard enough to begin with. He was, after all, dodging his room mate.

He poked his head out the door to his quarters and peered around carefully. He felt like a child. Satisfied with the lack of blond, he ventured out of his room for the first time in three days. He navigated through the halls cautiously, coming upon no one except for Kisame who gave him a sharp toothed smirk.

He turned down the last hallway that would lead him outside when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two people situated in a small alcove. He turned to them and struggled to see who the two were. One he recognized as Itachi, but the second he couldn't identify because they were shrouded in shadow.

The two were talking quietly, and Itachi's usual mask of indifference was surprisingly not in place. Any type of emotion on the Uchiha's face was foreign and grotesque looking. Sasori wanted even more to know to whom Itachi was speaking with so openly. The puppeteer wanted so much to move closer, to hear some of their conversation, but he felt sure if he did they would notice his presence. Despite his curiosity, he moved on towards the doors leading outside. Unbeknownst to him, a set of eyes watched him leave.

* * *

Itachi removed his hand from Deidara's frowning mouth and stated, "Sasori was just here." 

Deidara's visible eye widened, "Did he hear any of that, yeah?"

"No, I do not believe so. At any rate, he did not know your identity." Itachi said carefully. He continued, with a smug look on his face, "I could see him squinting to see to whom I was speaking."

"Ah, good, yeah." Deidara sighed, and looked away from Itachi's calculating look. "So it's a deal, hmm?

Itachi scrutinized the clay artist and gave what could have been a tiny smile. "Yes."

* * *

Sasori found himself wandering aimlessly through the bit of forest surrounding their compound. He had relaxed some what, but still could not rid himself of the guilt coiling inside of him. He heard a rustle in the nearby bushes and without a second thought flung four kunai into the area. He heard a grunt and he watched as Zetsu appeared looking slightly surprised. 

"**Asshole**." The plant ninja growled.

Sasori let the comment slide, and replied, "I did not know it was you."

"What are you doing out here? **You never come out here, puppet**."

It was then that Sasori remembered why talking to Zetsu was difficult. "I needed someplace to think."

"Why not inside?" Zetsu spoke stiffly.

"I have had quite enough of inside, thank you." Sasori's lip curled.

Zetsu smirked, "**It's because of the blond brat**. Yes, it has to be."

Sasori chose not to respond to that. "I could eat him if you want. **Yes, he'd be tender and delicious; I can already taste his flesh—juicy and sweet**."

Sasori's eyes widened in distaste. "I—that will not be necessary."

"Are you sure? I'd be glad to." Zetsu looked at him hopefully.

"I'm sure." Sasori took a step back from the other ninja. "I'll, just be leaving; I have quite a bit more thinking to do, if you don't mind."

Zetsu smirked wickedly, "Oh no, not at all. **Of course I don't mind, what kind of company is a demented puppet**?"

Sasori turned quickly and began to walk towards the compound once more. "Never again." He thought. "Never again."

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	4. What?

Thank you all for your reviews, they are wonderful and I am glad that you like what I've got to offer. happy faces

I don't own Naruto. Because for some reason I have to tell you that...sigh

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As soon as Sasori set foot inside the building he was immediately accosted by a blond haired madman.

"Hey Sasori-d_aaanna_! What were you doing out there, yeah? I thought you were allergic to the sun, yeah. Why haven't I seen you for ages, yeah? I like your hair." The words spilled out of the other ninja like an unstoppable flood. "Kisame-san said you've been stalking around, yeah, like a creepy pervert. I said that that's what he always says, yeah. But then he said that you were really creepy, yeah, peering around corners and checking over your shoulder, yeah. Is someone trying to kill you, yeah?"

"So it would seem…" Sasori grumbled.

"What was that 'Sori-danna?" The blond smiled innocently. "I didn't quite catch it, have you been mumbling again, yeah. It's a bad habit, I thought you'd been fixed of that, yeah. It's alright if you haven't yeah, no one's perfect, yeah. Oh, and I'm sleeping with Itachi tonight."

"I-what?" Sasori twitched as he looked at the clay artist in what he hoped would come off as an annoyed and bewildered fashion.

"You'll be sharing the room with Kisame-san tonight, danna, yeah. I'm sharing with Itachi, yeah, we have-er- matters to discuss." Deidara replied brightly.

"I hate Kisame." Sasori growled viciously.

"Yes, well…" Deidara smirked, "You'll just have to deal with it, yeah. This is important."

"What could you two possibly have to talk about? Itachi doesn't even like you." Sasori finally grunted.

"It's personal, Sasori-danna, yeah. Since when have you become so nosey, yeah? Have you been hanging around Hidan-san again?" Deidara quipped. "It's really a despicable habit, yeah."

"Yes, because you're one to talk about despicable habits." Sasori looked at the blond maliciously.

"What do you mean by that, yeah?"

"I mean, what the hell is with your incessant need to add 'yeah' to every damn thing you ever say! You come off sounding like a yuppie teenage girl."

"Well if that bothers you so much, yeah, you shouldn't have any problem with Kisame, he's virtually free of speech-impediments." Deidara looked at the puppeteer through a slanted eye. "But perhaps you should consider rooming with Zetsu, yeah; you both feel the need to growl at me."

"Anyone but Zetsu." Sasori replied quickly.

"**Screw you, you moldy piece of wood**." Zetsu snarled from behind him, just returning from scouring the forest for unlucky travelers, animals, and pretty much anything else that was somewhat edible.

Itachi and Kisame emerged from an adjacent hallway and stopped on either side of Sasori and Deidara. Itachi remained silent while Kisame walked over to Sasori and clapped him roughly on the back.

"Hey rooming buddy. How are you this bright and shining day?" Kisame grinned at him through sharky teeth.

"Just splendid." Sasori grimaced.

Kisame waited patiently for Sasori to ask him how he was, but he was sorely disappointed.

"Manners, Sasori." Itachi goaded monotonously.

"And how are you Kisame-san?" Sasori muttered, hoping that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

"It's personal." Kisame replied snippily. Deidara giggled and Itachi just stood there; as per usual.

'Why me?' Sasori thought, dreading what Kisame would be like behind closed doors.

Deidara turned to Itachi and smiled, "Itachi, do you wanna go get some Dango with me, yeah?"

Itachi gave a little nod of agreement; the blond grabbed his sleeve and drug him away happily.

"Come on Sasori-san, let's go play a game called, 'You watch me eat a lot, and you just sit there because you don't eat.' Sounds like fun, don't ya think?" Kisame grinned maliciously.

"Tons." Sasori let himself be dragged away by the shark-ninja, cursing Itachi with all his might.

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	5. Again, What?

discalimer crap blah blah blah...sigh

I enjoy all of your reviews, but keep them up. I won't be as nice in my updating if they peter out. Well, here we go, enjoy.

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Sasori didn't want to play 'watch Kisame stuff himself' anymore. To be truthful, he didn't want to play in the first place. He was sick of the smug smirks from the shark-like ninja, and the sly tone in which he spoke to the puppeteer. He was sick of Kisame in general, but that didn't take much. The ex-mist ninja was an asshole. He didn't understand how Deidara and Itachi could stand to be in the same room, let alone the same conversation with the man. Speaking of Deidara and Itachi, what were they up to? Since when had those two; complete opposites in every way Sasori added bitterly, become friends? In fact, since when had they had a conversation that didn't consist of the blond saying stupid random things and Itachi looking at him blankly? That was not a conversation; even a social recluse like himself knew that.

Sasori was lost in his musings, but he could feel the weight of Kisame's intense gaze upon him. He would ignore him; the other nin was just going to try to get a rise out of the red head. They sat for what seemed like hours in a painfully tense silence until Sasori's self control snapped, "WHAT, GOD DAMMIT?"

Kisame looked surprised, but he quickly masked the emotion and replied scathingly, "I've been trying to get you to say something for the past half hour, and that's all you have to say to me? 'Sori I thought you had more manners than that."

Sasori twitched, how dare that big blue bastard belittle him like that? "I'm leaving."

Kisame looked at the puppeteer in amusement as he stalked away in a rage. A rage he didn't understand why he had. Kisame, however, got up and followed the shorter ninja a delightful idea springing into his devious mind.

"OI! Puppet, I need to stop by my quarters to get my sword, I don't trust that little blond ball of energy around it." Kisame called.

"So?"

"So, you're coming with me, I don't want to go alone."

Sasori looked at the other man a blank look on his face, as usual. "Are you two?"

"No, but it's Itachi, you know how he is."

"No I don't." Sasori flat lined and began to walk away.

Kisame wasn't about to let his fun be ruined, so he grabbed a hold of the smaller man's wooden shoulders and dragged him, protesting down the hall.

'Dammit, why am I always getting drug all over the place?' Sasori thought grumpily to himself. 'As soon as he gets his sword I'm going attack him and then proceed to skin him alive with it.'

"I'll be right back, just wait here." Kisame said coolly.

"Don't take forever, I hate waiting." Sasori grumbled.

Kisame reached for the door knob but stopped when he heard voices from the other side of the door.

"No, 'Totchi-san, not there, yeah!" Deidara's voice drifted through the stone, and Sasori wondered how that was even possible.

"Well, where do you want me to put it?" Itachi replied, a slight inflection in his usual dry tone.

"Just, just hold it, yeah." Deidara's voice drifted out again.

"But it is weird. It is all wet or something." Itachi stated.

"Well, yes it's like that, yeah, if it's not it doesn't work." Deidara gently told the other nin.

"Just take it." Itachi said forcefully, because Itachi doesn't shout.

"Hold on, yeah, it's not ready."

"I-uh, I think I'll come back later." Kisame said stiffly as he hid the smile that was threatening to spread across his sharky features.

Sasori stood open-mouthed at the stone door separating Kisame and himself from whatever it was that was occurring between their partners.

Kisame once again grabbed a hold of the puppeteer and drug him away from what he hoped were mentally scarring sentence fragments. Oh, yes, his agenda was completed today. Mentally scar the puppet? Check.

00

Deidara looked at the brunette in annoyance. "Itachi I told you not to put it there, yeah, now it won't come out right."

"It's a little harder to do when you don't have mouths to do everything for you." Itachi looked away sourly.

The blond looked at the pitiful piece of clay that he had given Itachi to work with. "You really are hopeless, yeah."

Itachi bristled at the comment, but let it slide, "Could you show me again?"

Deidara's face lit up into a delighted smirk, "'Totchi-san, are you telling me that you can't do it with your Sharingan, yeah?"

Itachi looked away again and muttered something that the clay artist couldn't quite understand.

"What's that 'Totchi-san, yeah?" Deidara sighed coyly.

"You are lucky I like you." Itachi wouldn't meet his eye, "Could you show me again?"

"Sure, yeah." Deidara smirked at the brunette; who, if he had the emotional range of any normal human being, would have blushed.

00

"What the hell." Sasori stuttered for the fifteenth time. Kisame just ignored him as he reclined easily on Deidara's usual cot.

"I'm going to kill him." Sasori muttered quietly. "I'm going to poison him, and then as he vomits his stomach onto the floor I'll slice him from groin to sternum. Then I'll remove his organs…in alphabetical order."

Kisame looked over at the puppeteer in distaste. "What the hell."

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	6. Kisame

Hello wonderous readers! Thank you for the comments and ideas, they are very encouraging! This next chapter is from Kisame's POV, because we need an impartial third party to give us the occasional rational scope of the scene.

Do I really need to tell you that I don't own anything? -sigh- Enjoy!

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When morning came, Sasori had quite possibly succeeded in driving himself, as well as Kisame completely insane. He had spent the better part of the night muttering to himself, while pacing on his side of the room. Kisame had tried to ignore him, he really had, but somehow the deranged puppeteer managed to distract him from sleep. He really did have an awful habit of thinking up bizarre ways to kill a person. The red head had only recently decided that a porcupine would serve as in ideal weapon to bludgeon someone to death while hanging them from a trip wire.

Kisame had to get out of there before he lost his sanity completely. As soon as the first light of the sun hit the room, he bolted for the door and proceeded down to the main room of the hide out. He sat in a blissful silence for no more than ten minutes before a cursing Hidan and murderous Kakuzu entered from the front gate. The ex-mist nin didn't stick around to hear what they were squabbling about this time, he immediately darted into another area of the complex. He really didn't want to be involved in one of their fights. Oh, sure _they_ were near indestructible, he however was not. He decided it was now time for breakfast, if there ever was a time for breakfast.

He ambled into the dinning hall to find two people already seated at the table. One was a tired, but smug looking blond and the other, a grumpy Itachi. Kisame decided that these two would be much better company than the crazed puppeteer or the two idiots fighting in the hallway. Yes, if he had to choose, these two would be perfect breakfast buddies.

"So, how was your…uh bonding?" Kisame prodded at the tense atmosphere.

"Fine." Itachi growled.

"'Totchi-kun isn't very good, yeah." Deidara replied simply, smirking at the other two, his visible eye glittering in delight.

"Excuse me?" Kisame almost choked.

"I tried to teach him, but he just wouldn't listen, yeah. He _had_ to do it his way, and now he's pouting because he's not a little genius about it, yeah."

Itachi gave a little huff and glared determinedly at the table, perhaps willing it to burst into flame. Which he easily could have done, but that's beside the point.

"Which is why you'll be rooming with Sasori-danna again, Kisame-san, yeah. 'Totchi-kun needs more work, yeah." Deidara's grin made Kisame twitch.

"Hell no." Kisame stated flatly. "Hell no."

Itachi removed his gaze from the water stained wood and looked at the former mist nin, asking in his silent, Itachi language, 'why'.

"Why?" Deidara voiced, oblivious to the Uchiha's sudden interest in the conversation.

Kisame looked at Itachi and the blond incredulously, "Why?! Are you two daft!? That man is a complete whack job! He spent the entire night pacing coming up with creative ways to kill someone using forest creatures and house hold appliances!"

Deidara cocked his head to the side, "Was it you, yeah?"

Kisame scrutinized the clay artist before replying, "No, per se, he never really specified who it was he was talking about."

"Then there's no problem, yeah." Deidara smiled pleasantly before digging into his dango.

Kisame opened and shut his mouth several times before letting his head fall to the table in defeat. "Dammit."

Kisame spent the rest of the day as far away from the ginger haired puppet as humanly possible. 'I may be a feared S-rank criminal, but dammit, I choose life.' Kisame found himself thinking around the time the nins were supposed to be in their rooms and not out causing trouble.

In order to avoid the puppeteer longer, he took the long way to the room, which meant passing Hidan and Kakuzu's room. As he entered the hallway, he heard shouts and curses from behind the stone door. They were still at it.

"IF YOU CONTINUE TO SPEAK LIKE A FUCKSTICK I WILL CUT OFF YOUR HEAD AND THROW IT OUT THE DAMN WINDOW!" Kakuzu roared.

"GO AHEAD AND CUT OFF MY HEAD! YOU KNOW THE _PRECIOUS LEADER_ WILL HAVE YOU SEW IT BACK ON!"

"YOU'RE RIGHT AND YOU'D LIKE IT ANYWAY, YOU MASOCHISTIC LITTLE SHIT!"

Kisame shook his head as he walked passed, "What a bunch of idiots." He hurried on to what he considered his 'doom'.

The former mist nin sighed as he reached his replacement room for the second night. "What did I do to deserve this?" He grumbled.

"I'm going to go with the fact that you've slaughtered hundreds of innocent people." A calm voice came from behind him.

Kisame turned to see Zetsu leering in the shadows. His eyes darkened and he growled, "I wasn't asking you."

"**I don't care, fish face**." Zetsu snarled, "We're giving you the answer." "**And you're going to like it**."

Kisame growled and turned away from the plant nin, entering the room in front of him. When he entered the room, the sight that lay before him was something he had not been expecting.

"What the hell?"

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Review, please and thank you! 


	7. Gold

Woo. We're on chapter seven! This in itself is very exciting, and we're moving! The reviews are wonderment, and I really appreciate that you take the time to do so. dances And now, without further ado, I don't own anything && Enjoy!

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Sasori did not even look up from his work when he heard Kisame burst through the door, exclaiming about something or another. What he was doing was very precise, and even a minuscule difference in ratios to each ingredient could throw off the entire poison. He vaguely noted that the shark-like nin was storming around the room shouting about something. He twitched as the other nin began moving closer to him and speaking in a somewhat calmer manner. Procuring poison from a scorpion was not light work, and it certainly didn't help that this idiot was bearing down upon him shouting like a manic animal. Sasori was thoroughly trying to ignore the other nin, but when he heaved himself upon Sasori's bed in a defeated manner, scattering scrolls across the floor and groaning loudly the red head could not ignore him and he could not longer contain himself.

He finally looked at the other nin and snarled, "If _you_ don't shut up, _I_ will mess up, and then _I_ will put _this_," he gestured with the scorpion dangling from his wooden fingers, "in _your_ bed."

Kisame blinked stupidly at him, but he did indeed shut up. However, he continued to move around and otherwise irk the puppeteer. Sasori felt his patience thinning and he put the scorpion down, grumbling to himself. He had obtained quite a bit of its venom, and it would be enough for the poison he was making, but he was in no mindset to continue with his project. Sasori carefully located the creature he had just released and placed it into its small glass tank. He then proceeded to cork the phial he had been collecting the venom with. He turned all of the various bowls down to a simmer on their respective heating devices and closed any open jars of supplies. The puppeteer slowly got up, his joints creaking slightly and he noted that he'd need to check their lubrication later.

He looked over at a stunned Kisame and proceeded to grunt, "Do you mind?"

Kisame looked at him stupidly before rising and moving to his designated side of the room, normally Deidara's, and sitting on the blond's bed stiffly. Sasori then proceeded to lie down on his bed, muttering to himself. He inhaled deeply and started his meditation routine.

"So, uh, you're gonna sleep tonight…and not plot the death of an unnamed person?" Kisame hazarded curiously.

Sasori jerked slightly and sat up, glaring at the other man.

"OKAY OKAY! Shutting up!"

Sasori settled back into his position, his mind going blissfully blank for a few seconds before he could see his subconscious thoughts clearly.

_He was in a sea of gold. The sky was golden the ground was golden and the air shimmered. There was a long line of rocks making a makeshift path. This was typical, so naturally, like every other time, he followed them. He was lead to a wooded area, where he found two silhouettes, pitch black against the golden air. He watched as the smaller one bid the other goodbye and moved towards him. He could not recognize the figure, but he knew that he knew the person. They moved towards him in a familiar way, as though they had done it times before. _

_The figure stopped slightly in front of him, a distance that in any other situation would have been awkward for the puppeteer; but here, it felt right. The figure, though shorter than the other, was taller than himself. He looked up to where he figured the face was and found himself gazing into a single golden sphere. It was mesmerizing, he couldn't look away. Somehow, he felt the shadowy figure move closer as it brushed locks of his red hair from his forehead. He leaned into the touch. He found his eyes closing and he felt his face moving closer to the golden orb hanging in the blackness. He was moving closer. Closer. _

**Thud. **His meditative state was disrupted and he jerked violently back into reality. He cursed under his breath as he looked disdainfully down at Kisame, who was sprawled on the floor groaning.

"You're lucky." Sasori grumbled.

Kisame looked up at him curiously, "Huh?"

Sasori responded by simply raising his hand a pointing about two inches to the left of Kisame's right arm. The shark nin's yellow eyes followed the wooden digit and landed upon a bowl of simmering liquid.

"That would peel the skin off your bones if you got it on you. Then I would have to clean it up. What are you doing anyway?" Sasori looked at the other man witheringly.

"I gotta take a piss." Kisame lifted himself from the floor, careful not to disturb any of Sasori's bowls or tanks. The man carefully left the room and left Sasori to his peace.

'Now, what happened?' Sasori wracked his brain to remember what he had found. The only thing he could remember was gold, and being able to feel. The gold reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was…but being able to feel? That had never happened before.

'Gold and feeling?' He thought, sitting tensely. "What does that have to do with anything?"

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Reviews are delicious and nutritious...and they make me dance. 


	8. Closets

Well dears, it's the eighth chapter, and it's going well I believe. I tried to make this one a bit longer...but i only succeeded by about 300 words...sigh...anywho. I enjoyed all of your reviews, they are very encouraging! Keep it up! I'm not going to be able to access a computer until about tuesday or wednesday...so, I decided to update today! You should be so lucky! Think of it as a spring-time gift!

I still don't own anything...Enjoy!

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Deidara was heading towards Itachi's room to meet the other nin, completely oblivious to his surroundings, when he was grabbed from behind and dragged into a nearby closet.

"What the hell-yeah?!" Deidara yelped as he twisted out of his abductor's grip. He turned to face the other person and found himself looking into blackness. The light had been clicked off. Who had decided that it would be a good idea to pull the clay bomber extraordinaire into a closet with them and flick the light off? Whoever it was, they were an idiot, considering that even if Deidara didn't know who he was stuck with he wasn't going to just let it go down like this. Oh no, he was a fighter.

Deidara swung at where he deemed the person's head to be, but his wrist was caught in an iron grip. He lifted his knee and the other person slid their body up against his, not only negating his attack, but also capturing his other wrist in the process. Okay, so hand to hand combat wasn't his forte, he could get out of this…right?

Deidara growled and then shouted as loud as he could, "GET THE FUCK OFF ME YOU MMFMF—" His mouth was promptly covered by a hand; but it wasn't just any hand, it was the one that had released his left arm.

Using his new found freedom, Deidara threw a punch at what he later identified as the other's shoulder. He heard a hiss of pain, but the grip did not slacken. Instead, the palm over his mouth was removed and his right arm twisted up behind his back while his left was recaptured easily.

How could this idiot see? Not even the blond's scope could pick up any light from the room. Deidara had a creeping feeling that he should know who it was, but he could not read the chakra signature; it was being masked too well.

"Dammit, Deidara…" A low, calm voice grumbled.

Deidara immediately gave up his efforts to get away from the other's iron grip.

"'Totchi-kun?" The blond asked bewilderedly. This wasn't his style at all.

"I did not realize you hit so hard." Itachi stated simply.

Deidara didn't really know what to make of that. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or take it as a compliment.

The Uchiha, as if reading his mind continued, "Compliment." Deidara was released, and Itachi took half a step back from him.

"What exactly was the point of dragging me into a closet, yeah?" Deidara uttered bemusedly. "It's not really your style at all, yeah, 'Totchi-kun."

Itachi remained silent, but Deidara understood his silence.

"If there was a light in here, yeah, would I be seeing the _emotionless_ Uchiha Itachi _blushing_?" Deidara quipped.

Once again, Itachi remained silent, and Deidara broke the silence again, "'Totchi-kun, what are we doing in this closet, yeah?"

"I…" There was a long pause, because Itachi does not stutter, not even for Deidara. "Would like to…" Deidara sorely wished for a light, just to see the look on the other nin's face. This was probably the exact reason Itachi had cut the lights.

Deidara couldn't help himself, he giggled. "'Totchi-kun, yeah, would you like some help?"

Even though it was dark, Deidara could tell that Itachi was glaring at him; but it wasn't an annoyed glare. No, it was something else entirely. Deidara leaned back against the nearby wall and waited for Itachi to do whatever it was he wanted to do or say.

"I am having difficulty articulating what I would like to say." Itachi stated finally. Had Deidara been some sort of anime character…which is completely insane; he would have face faulted.

Deidara, having recovered from his shock, grumbled, "Then don't articulate anything and just say what you mean or do what you want to do…" Deidara shook his head in defeat. Some people were just hopeless-like Itachi.

There was a tense silence following Deidara's statement, and the blond was about to fill it when he found himself unable to do so.

There was something soft, and pleasant, and…wet, pressed up against his mouth. 'What the-' Deidara's muddled brain couldn't form any sort of rational thought, so he went on instinct. He closed his eyes and moved his mouth with the other; wrapping his arms around a lithe body and tangling in strands of silky hair.

The blond felt himself being pushed up against the wall behind him, and he found he had no problem with this arrangement. He felt Itachi place his hands on either side of his head as he moved still closer to the artist.

Deidara let a low moan rumble from his throat as his and Itachi's mouths slid sensually over one another. 'What the hell am I doing?' Deidara's confused brain was trying to process what was going on, but he was failing miserably.

Itachi bit down on the blond's bottom lip and sucked lightly. 'Kissing Itachi….Itachi…I think I rather like Itachi…but…' Deidara's thought process ended there because the black haired nin's mouth had just found his neck. 'Yeah, this was way better when I'm not trying to think….oops.'

Deidara wasn't aware of exactly when it happened, but he found himself cloakless and his fishnet covered back pressed into the chilled stone. If that wasn't hot, he didn't know what was. Both his and Itachi's hair had come undone, and was plastered to their sweaty faces. Itachi's cloak was strewn across the blond's.

Both nin were so engrossed in their…activity…that neither of them heard the doorknob turn or swing open.

"What the hell?" The two sprung apart at the sudden shout from a disgruntled Kisame.

"Fuck." Deidara muttered. He looked over at Itachi and could only wonder how the other had gotten his hair back in perfect order and cloak over his shoulders so quickly, _and_ without him noticing.

"What the hell are you two doing in a closet, if you have the room?" Kisame looked at Deidara questioningly.

"I didn't-" The clay artist started, but Itachi cut the blond off.

"One does not normally expect their roommate to walk in on something taking place in a closet, rather than their shared room where said roommate's belongings are." Itachi replied dryly.

Both Kisame and Deidara blinked, "That actually makes sense." Kisame grumbled as he turned to leave.

Deidara glanced at Itachi, who moved closer to the blond once Kisame was out of sight.

Itachi leaned over the blond, breath ghosting over the artist's lips, "Wh-"

"'T-Totchi-kun, yeah, I-I think we should stop…for now." Deidara spluttered, "I need to think, yeah."

Itachi immediately took a step back and nodded, face depicting no emotion whatsoever. "Sure."

"So, ah, where did we stop the lesson last night, yeah?" Deidara replied.

"Proper bondage." Itachi answered.

"Oh yeah, yeah. Let's go, if we're going to get it all done tonight, yeah." Deidara smiled.

-

_Outside the door…_

"I'm going to fucking _kill_ Kakuzu when I get my head reattached to my body…" Hidan's lone head grumbled angrily. "Now I'm stuck listening to Mr. and Mrs. Kinky talk about bondage…_Dammit_."

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r e v i e w...it's fun. 


	9. Poisons

_Sigh_ ... So I've actually been trying to post this for the past two or three days, but it kept coming up with an error. I wasn't sure if I was going to get this chapter done on time-ish because my term paper was due...today, actually, but here we are! Thank you all so much for the reviews! 54 as of now and over 3k hits. That's gnarly.

Don't own anything, Enjoy!

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Sasori was still in a bad mood when Kisame came back from his little bathroom trip. He glared at the blue skinned man as he walked back into the room looking slightly peeved.

There was no way that Sasori would be able to meditate any longer; he was much too alert now. He scrutinized the other nin and growled, "What's your problem?"

"Ah, it's just Hidan, or rather Hidan's head. He was shouting at me to help him because he'd been stuck there all night and had had to listen to—" Kisame hesitated slightly, looking like he didn't want to repeat what Hidan had said.

Sasori rolled his eyes and grumbled half-heartedly, "What were you ranting about earlier? What could have been so important that you had to disrupt my precious work?"

"Ah…what exactly were you making?" Sasori ignored his blatant change of subject, for the time being.

"A variety of poisons. The one which you nearly became intimate with, one to liquefy your insides, a third that leaves you completely aware of your surroundings but unable to breathe or signal for help, and another that paralyzes you for about 48 hours while it breaks down your body's cells; quite frankly it causes your body to begin decaying before it has died."

"And, uhm, do you die after the 48 hours?" Kisame looked at him curiously.

"No," Sasori grinned maliciously. "It takes almost a full two weeks for your body to completely shut down, but in the mean time you get to experience something like life after death. Your brain and most of your nerves are alive but your body is dying. Most of the time only the nerves around the area where the poison enters the body are damaged, meaning that once the 48 hours is up you feel _everything_."

"And how the hell did you come up with this shit?" Kisame looked somewhat disturbed.

"I'm an artist. However, for the last poison, I use venom from a stonefish and a Hemiscorpius lepturus (a type of scorpion); neither is native to this area so it is very important that I do not mess up." He pointedly glared at the other man.

"Sorry." The ex-mist ninja grumbled.

Sasori looked expectantly at Kisame, who in turn returned the gaze awkwardly.

"Well?" Sasori finally growled.

"Well what?" Kisame replied confusedly.

"What was so important for you to interrupt so very loudly?"

"I really don't think that it would be any interest to you, Sasori-san." Kisame shifted his body weight and sat down on Deidara's bed.

"I don't care what you think, it had to be important, or were you just wasting my time?" Sasori snarled.

"Hey-hey, it's uhm…well, why were you making all that poison?" Kisame tried to distract the puppeteer again.

"I asked you a question, and I expect an answer, and I _don't_ like to wait." Sasori whispered dangerously.

Kisame shut his eyes tiredly and began, "While I was on my way back to…here…I ran into Zetsu and he got me angry—"

"He makes everyone angry…" Sasori muttered under his breath.

"—And I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and instead of opening the door to go down the hallway to this room, I accidentally opened the door to the third hall closet."

"You came in here and made that racket because you opened the wrong damn door?" Sasori couldn't believe it. The idiot had almost cost him his valuable materials because of a flustered mistake?

"No, it's what was in the closet…" Kisame replied stiffly.

"And what was in the closet?" Sasori mocked.

"Itachi…." Kisame stated slowly.

"So?"

"…and Deidara…" Kisame finished quietly.

Sasori stiffened, well as stiff as one can get when they are already made out of wood. "What?" His voice had reached a dangerous pitch.

"Yeah…" Was the only response he got from Kisame.

"The third hall closet did you say?" Sasori said standing up.

"I'm sure they are out of that closet by now." Kisame replied reasonably.

"But there is a chance that they haven't left yet?"

"Uhm…no." Sasori looked at the other man shrewdly.

"How do you know?" Sasori demanded angrily.

"Hidan might have mentioned something aboutMr.andMrs.Kinkyleavingandmentioningbondageorsomethinglikethat but he never really knows what's going on when he's pissed about being dismembered." Kisame slurred. Sasori glared and sat back down.

"Besides, what do you care?" Kisame looked at the puppeteer questioningly.

"I don't." Sasori grunted.

"Then what are you all worked up for?" Kisame pressed.

"If the brat ends up getting hurt I'm going to have to deal with it." Sasori retorted stiffly.

"So that's why you're acting like a complete obsessive freak?" Kisame gained some ground that he could work with, and Sasori didn't like where this was going.

"No."

"Since when do you care about him getting hurt?" Kisame urged.

"I don't. But if he does, I'll be stuck listening to him whinge about it." Sasori stated calmly.

"I know you can tune him out. Perhaps it's something deeper." Kisame pressed on, and Sasori was getting angrier.

"Or maybe it isn't."

"I think that you're jealous." Kisame grinned smugly.

"_I_ think you are a fucking idiot." Sasori spluttered through his teeth.

"So you _are_." Kisame grinned wider, exposing his sharky teeth for the first time in a while. "But what exactly would Dei-san want with a wooden puppet like you?"

"What?" Sasori looked at the other nin in surprise. That was not what he had been expecting the other man to say.

"Think about it. You aren't even a real human being. You are a puppet—made of wood, incapable of feeling, giving off warmth, or feeling affection."

"That's…that's..." Sasori trailed off. Everything Kisame had said was perfectly true, so he believed.

"Whereas, Itachi is living, breathing, and capable of providing warmth; and although he's a bit stunted in the emotion department, he can obviously feel and show affection." Kisame smiled evilly at Sasori's resentment.

"…" Sasori remained silent, seething at the other man's words.

"In short, he's everything you're not." Kisame finished.

Sasori fidgeted at Kisame's final statement. "…you are correct." Sasori admitted feebly, after all there really wasn't any room for arguement.

"But, I cannot die, I believe that is a much more…pertinent quality….don't you think so, Kisame?" Sasori's voice strengthened.

"What?" The ex-mist swordsman looked at the red head in something akin to shock.

"You heard me perfectly well." Sasori gave him a sardonic smile.

Kisame looked at the other nin cautiously, "That's insane."

"Perhaps," Sasori muttered, "But Deidara already knows I'm insane."

Kisame's eyebrows knitted together as he grumbled, "Don't do anything foolish, because you _will_ come to regret it."

Sasori replied coolly, "Is that a challenge?"

"No, it's a promise." Kisame stated flatly.

"Pity, I enjoy challenges."

Kisame shook his head at the puppet master and found himself thinking; once again, 'What the hell…"

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Keep reviewing, it's awesome! 


	10. Training

Wow, this is Chapter 10! It's been a long week, for sure, and it's only Monday. -sigh- I'm going to be busy all the rest of this week and all weekend, so I'm not quite sure when I'll be able to get chappie 11 out, but I will do my best to keep it timely. Yippie. Thank you once again for all of your reviews, they are wonderful, I love reading them.

i am ownership-deficient. enjoy!

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"Deidara, you're going to have to try harder than that." Itachi stated flatly.

Deidara looked at the raven haired ninja through a narrowed eye. "I told you I wasn't any good at this kind of stuff, yeah."

"So you admit that I'm the superior one here." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Deidara didn't say anything as he aimed a low kick at Itachi's left knee. Needless to say the kick was intercepted and the blond found himself flat on his back with Itachi looming over him, effectively pinning him to the hard earth.

"Perhaps, 'Totchi-kun, you should be the _attacker, _yeah." Deidara grumbled, "It'd be best if I worked on defense, while you took the offense."

Itachi's black eyes shimmered as he held back a smug grin. Deidara hadn't realized what he had said—or at least the way Itachi had interpreted it. "Alright, I'll be _offense_ and you work on countering my advances." Itachi replied simply.

He extended a hand to help the blond up, and then they each assumed their respective stances.

Itachi reached toward his kunai pouch and pulled out two knives, moving toward the clay artist. Deidara moved left, while drawing his own weapons; two shuriken and a kunai. While the blond was fast, Itachi was much quicker. The artist had to use the shuriken to keep Itachi away from him, by launching them at the raven's face. He no longer had time to draw anymore weapons, because Itachi had immediately resumed his assault after deftly avoiding Deidara's attack. In seconds the blond found himself looking up at Itachi, who had disarmed him and was now holding his weapon's pouch in his hand, both kunai twirling in his long fingers.

Itachi squatted and leaned over him, "Dei-kun, you'll have to try a lot harder than that." Itachi sighed. They weren't getting anywhere. The past two days had been nothing but failure after failure for the blond. "In order to beat me, or any adversary, you need to be thinking ahead."

"Well, it's hard to think ahead when you are coming at me with fucking inhuman speed, and sharingan, yeah."

Itachi didn't have the heart to tell the blond that he didn't have it activated.

"Perhaps we should try something more…basic." Itachi stated quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean, yeah?" Deidara sat up agitatedly.

"I mean that if you were to review the basics, then you would be better in combat. You have advanced mastery of everything in the ninja arts, save for hand-to-hand combat, so obviously you can handle it. You just need work. So we are going back to basics." Itachi replied firmly.

"But—"

"We're _going_ to work on your speed." Itachi looked the blond in the eye.

"Can't it wait until tomorrow, yeah?" Deidara sighed.

"There is still plenty of daylight to train."

"'Totchi-kun, yeah, I don't think you've ever taken one of your own beatings, but I'll tell you that I'm tired and sore, yeah." Deidara looked at the ex-Konaha nin exhaustedly.

Itachi narrowed his ebony eyes but muttered, "Fine. But tomorrow you are going put in more effort."

Itachi stood up and moved to walk away from the blond situated on the ground. The black haired nin looked at the artist curiously. In return he got an outstretched hand; the blond wanted him to help him up. Itachi sighed mentally, but extended an arm to help the other man up anyway.

Deidara grasped Itachi's outstretched hand firmly, but instead of lifting himself up, he pulled the other nin down.

Itachi let out a short gasp at the sudden change in his inertia, as he felt himself being pulled forcefully toward the ground. Deidara smirked victoriously down at him as the blond straddled his waist.

"I win, yeah." Deidara shouted smugly.

Itachi blinked up at the blond, whose hands were resting on the black haired man's chest. "It is a start."

Deidara leaned down toward Itachi's face and whispered, "Admit it, yeah. I took the great Uchiha Itachi down with a childish prank."

"Never." Itachi gazed at the blond intently.

"What can I do to get you to admit it then, yeah. Because we're not going anywhere until you admit it, yeah."

"I can think of a few things, and I might consider admitting defeat." Itachi smirked, and the blond's face immediately went a light shade of pink.

Deidara, slightly suspecting what was coming, proceeded cautiously, "Like what, yeah?" He remarked coyly.

Itachi raised his eyebrows slyly and Deidara leaned in closer to hear what the other nin was going to say. They hovered like that for several seconds, before the overwhelming urge to crush their lips together consumed the blond, and he gave in to his instincts.

-

When Deidara had pulled Itachi to the ground, neither one had noticed the three poison tipped senbon that flew exactly where Itachi had previously been standing.

"Dammit." Sasori proceeded to swear colorfully under his breath; he could have given Hidan a run for his money, but Hidan isn't into money; so he would have given Hidan a run for Kakuzu's money…. 'There's no way that they could have sensed me, and that big lug, Kisame isn't anywhere around here.' Sasori supposed it was just dumb luck, at least for Itachi, that the blond was a childish idiot.

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You get a thousand bazillion (which I know isn't a real number) bonus points with me if you got the joke in the beginning between Itachi and Deidara. If you don't, I suppose I'll explain it...in the next chapter...-snicker- anywho-- Review and I'll probably love you; so much in fact that I won't rhyme like that again! 


	11. Answers

Alright, presenting Chapter 11...a depressingly short chapter 11...sigh, but 12 shall be longer--it had to be short. Anyway, I told you I'd let you in on my little joke from last chapter. Some of you I hear got it. Yay. I'm sure many of you know the significance of seme and uke. Well, in japanese, seme can be translated as attacker or offense..because in essence, that's what it is. So Itachi's got his mind in the gutter, and Deidara is oblvious. But I had a little giggle at it, and hopefully now that it makes sense, you will too. I sound silly right now...-so tired- AND to answer the question is this still deisas? Of course, but we have to give Sasori some motivation to act don't we? the answer there would be yes, yes we do. ...blah blah blah don't own.

Without any more of my rambling, I give you Chappie 11, Enjoy.

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After Sasori failed in his attempt to kill Itachi, he slunk off into the forest to sulk; something he found himself doing quite often these days.

'Why did Deidara ask the stupid Uchiha for help in hand-to-hand combat? Why didn't he ask me?' Sasori's thoughts were muddled with rage. 'Since when was that stupid Uchiha capable of emotion; that is rather preposterous. One does not simply come upon emotion as if it were an object to be found.'

Sasori paused, "That's certainly what I did…" He growled to himself.

'And why the hell does Deidara feel the same way?' Sasori sighed, "Why doesn't he feel…"

"Uhm, Sasori-sama?" A cheerful voice echoed behind him.

The puppeteer turned to see Tobi sitting on the ground looking up at him, in what he believed to be a curious manner. One could never really tell, as Tobi had a mask obstructing his face.

"What?" Sasori muttered.

"Why are you out here talking to yourself?" Tobi replied good-naturedly.

"…It is the only intelligent conversation I can have."

"And are you getting good answers? Because Tobi heard a couple questions, but no answers to follow them. Do you just answer them in your head?" Tobi cocked his head.

"…No…as a matter of fact, I haven't been getting any answers." Sasori took in the smaller man's appearance. "Perhaps you could assist me?"

"How?"

"By giving me some answers." Sasori kept his expression blank, an easy feat, and his voice monotonous.

"Tobi is good with answers."

"Good. Now, I would like for you to explain to me why Deidara would ask the Uchiha, instead of me, for help with hand-to-hand combat."

Tobi took a few seconds to analyze the situation before he said, "Perhaps it is because you are impatient with him all the time. He probably didn't want to get told off by you after being bested over and over. I'm sure it's not your fault that you are unsociable, but the sad truth is, you are." Tobi's voice curved into what Sasori was sure was a smile.

Sasori inwardly sighed, everything Tobi had said was true. "Are you jealous of Itachi-senpai?" The simple question triggered a heated reaction from the puppeteer.

"What makes you think that?" He hissed.

"Tobi saw you watching them train, and Tobi saw you throw the senbon." Tobi remained his calm, happy demeanor, despite the hostile aura surrounding Sasori.

"I can explain about that…"

"What, were there deadly butterflies on the training grounds?"

"…" Sasori glared.

"Fine, fine. Tobi really didn't see anything." Tobi sighed.

"**Nothing indeed.**" Zetsu emerged out of the shadows.

"Ah! There you are Zetsu-san! Tobi was looking for you for ages, and then Tobi saw Sasori-sama." Tobi jumped up and strode in circles around the stationary Zetsu.

"Eventually you're going to have to admit to yourself that you have feelings, puppet-boy." Zetsu's yellow eyes glinted, "**Either that, or I'll have to eat you; on Leader-sama's orders of course.**"

"Although wood has never been a favorite of mine…"

"**No, no it hasn't… so grow the fuck up and accept the fact that the blond idiot can give you a woody, and that it pisses you off that he's hot over the Uchiha.**"

Had Sasori the capability, he would have blushed.

"Zetsu-san, not to be impertinent, but woody was a horrible pun." Tobi stopped his mad circling and cocked his head at Zetsu.

Zetsu barely spared the shorter man a glance before he turned and moved away from the seething and embarrassed puppeteer. Tobi followed him hurriedly, calling over his shoulder at Sasori, "Bye Sasori-sama! Tobi is a good boy, Tobi didn't see anything!"

Sasori sighed again as he slumped down onto the murky earth. "This is ridiculous." He looked up into the canopy and whispered, "What's wrong with me?"

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Reviews are fun and fanciful!


	12. Back

Ah, here's chappie 12! And, as promised, it is most definitely longer than number 11! Yes, it is cause for rejoicing; although it isn't quite the length I'm beginning to aim for. Nothing to be done...as of now. Of course I'm keeping it as Dei/Saso, but we've got some Ita/Dei in there for flavor and motivation. It's getting exciting, as I've almost reached 100 reviews, something I totally wasn't expecting when I began this story. I'd really love to thank everyone who's been reviewing, because it's really wonderful and I appreciate it very much!

However...I still don't own this...and, Enjoy!

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After night had fallen, Sasori picked himself up off of the wet earth and began a steady trek back to his room. He was still muddled in his own thoughts, Tobi's words, and Zetsu's blunt statement. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice two shadows slip past him in the darkness of the entrance.

He stalked through the halls of the inner building, not bothering to keep quiet the thudding of his heavy footfalls. He turned down the short hallway that led to his room and paused before opening the door. He shook his head, as if to clear it, and sighed as he reached for the handle.

He pulled the door open and trudged inside. He was met with a calm, cheery greeting, "Evening Sasori-danna, yeah." Deidara's voice came from his right.

He looked to see the blond lethargically pulling a mesh tank over his tan shoulders. Deidara didn't seem to notice the way Sasori helplessly let his eyes travel over the rippling muscles of the blond's stomach. Sasori almost made a longing sigh, but he caught himself in time.

'What am I, a girl?' Sasori thought embarrassedly, though he wasn't sure how he had become so flustered. "Not even five minutes with him and I'm acting like a fucking woman…" Sasori grumbled under his breath.

Deidara looked at his partner curiously, "What was that, danna?"

"Nothing," Sasori replied, "Just thinking out loud." Sasori strode across the room to sit on his bed.

"Ah, I see."

"So, you're back?" Sasori tried not to sound pathetically happy.

"Yeah, 'Totchi-kun and Kisa-san are on a mission right now, yeah. I'm surprised you didn't see them leave."

Deidara tilted his blond head in contemplation, his hear sweeping gracefully over his shoulders. It was then that Sasori realized that the blond's hair was down out of its customary ponytail.

"Your hair." Sasori grunted awkwardly.

"Yeah, I took it down because it's been such a long day."

"I…er, like it." Deidara's visible eye lit up as Sasori said this.

Deidara smiled as he replied, genuinely pleased at Sasori's comment, "Thanks, Sasori-danna!"

Sasori was at a loss for words and they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Sasori watched Deidara in what he believed to be a discreet manner, as the other nin flitted around the room tidying up his side of the space.

"You know danna, yeah, you don't have to watch me." Deidara looked over at the caught red-handed puppeteer and smirked.

"I wasn't watching you, idiot." Sasori tried to cover up his embarrassment as he denied the blond's playful reproach.

Deidara cocked his eyebrow in a disbelieving manner but said nothing further about it. He continued to pick up bits of his possessions and place them neatly on the shelves adjacent to his bed.

Sasori shifted uncomfortably on his own bed. He was much too intrigued by the way Deidara's body moved, and he was inexplicably fascinated by the muscles under the blond's tanned flesh. He'd never actually found anything about the human body that he thought didn't need altering, but now he was rethinking his previous opinion.

"Danna, yeah, you didn't do anything that would have upset Kisame-san, did you?" Deidara paused in his work, looking at the dazed red-head.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, yeah, but he seemed awfully glad to be going on a mission rather than lazing about here…" Deidara picked up the book that lay at the foot of his bed. "Danna, this book is yours, yeah."

Sasori lifted his arm to take the book, but Deidara had opened it and had begun flipping through its numerous and dog-eared pages.

The clay artist looked through Sasori's book with a wry smile on his face. "I had no idea that there were so many poisonous animals." Sasori remained silent as the blond leafed through more pages. "How do you get the venom out of the animal, yeah?"

"Carefully." Deidara chuckled at Sasori's reply and continued to read, enjoyment spreading over his face.

"This is all very clever." Deidara looked up at Sasori as he handed him his book back. This time, when Deidara returned to his side of the room and lay down on his bed, a comfortable silence filled the room. "Sasori-danna, yeah, why are you acting differently?"

Sasori didn't look at the blond as he said, "Differently how?"

"I suppose I mean that you are being…tolerant of me, yeah." Deidara sat up thoughtfully. "Usually when I start cleaning like that, you get annoyed and yell at me, yeah."

Sasori still did not meet Deidara's questioning gaze as he muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

"What was that, danna, yeah?" The clay artist flopped lazily onto his back, his gaze trained on Sasori.

"I-ehm…I guess I missed having you around…to annoy me." Sasori turned away from the blond, and added the last bit as an afterthought. His statement sounded less feminine that way.

Deidara didn't say anything for several minutes, and finally Sasori worked up the courage to face him. When he looked at the blond's bed, he found that the artist had fallen asleep. Sasori noted, before he began his meditation, that Deidara had fallen asleep with a small smile on his face.

--

Sasori didn't remember anything that he had thought about in his subconscious state, but as he came out of it he felt a presence hovering over him.

Sasori slowly opened one eye, and then the other, his vision was filled with a blond; a dripping wet, blond to be exact. Sasori sat up slowly as he took in the magnificent sight of his partner. Deidara had the regulation black pants on, and he was pulling yet another mesh shirt over his tan body. He watched as rivers of water ran down the blond's perfectly sculpted back. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' Sasori banged his head against the wall, in a desperate attempt to clear it.

The thud startled Deidara and he turned around, blond hair whipping around in an arc of golden light. It landed wetly against his right shoulder, and his scope was visible for a few seconds before he shook his sodden bangs into place.

Sasori continued to pound his head into the concrete wall as Deidara looked at him bemusedly. "Danna, yeah, what are you doing?"

"Punishment." Sasori paused in his pounding long enough to utter the three syllables and then resumed his pounding.

"Punishment for what, yeah?" Deidara was watching him carefully as he tied up his blond hair in its usual ponytail style.

"Does it matter?"

"Not really, no." Deidara, having finished putting his hair up was sliding into his cloak. "Danna, yeah?" Deidara waited for Sasori to stop his pounding, but the puppeteer kept up the rhythm. "Uhm, do you want to come down and watch me eat breakfast, yeah?"

Sasori rested his head against the wall and he grumbled, "Not particularly, no." Deidara sighed and he moved toward the door. "…But, I'll come anyway."

Deidara concealed a smile as he retorted, "Well you had better hurry or I'm going to leave without you, danna."

"Oh, shut up." Sasori lifted himself nimbly to his feet and slipped into his cloak. He moved toward the door, where Deidara stood, unmoving.

"Are you coming?" Sasori growled irritably.

"Yeah, yeah…" Deidara's face remained blank, and Sasori turned his back on the artist.

"Let's go, you're going to be late."

"Coming, danna, yeah." Deidara muttered as he followed Sasori out of their room, and out of the complex.

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Review! I'm contemplating a reward of some sort for the 100th reviewer...but as it's so close now...ah, we shall see, ne?


	13. Table Art

Chappie 13! Wahoo! I'm not quite sure how long this is going to be, but I do know how it's going to end. Judging from here, it'll be quite a while yet. Which is good, I suppose. I'm excited that this is doing so well, and that so many people enjoy it. I have just started another story, which is a ino/shika/tem story, it's on chapter two at the moment, and it should be a good time. So if you're a fan of the pairings, or are looking for something different to read, give it a look-see.

Don't own anything...enjoy!

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"Danna, yeah, I had no idea you remembered that I eat breakfast here every morning." Deidara looked at the puppeteer, holding back a smirk.

Sasori didn't look up from the carving he was putting into the table, "I didn't."

"Oh…but, but you were walking in front of me the entire time, yeah…" Deidara tried to sound innocent.

Sasori paused in his etchings, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Maybe it was my imagination, yeah." Deidara watched Sasori's steady hand begin to move across the table again.

"Indeed." Tense silence followed the statement, and Sasori began to press harder into the table.

Sasori paused in his carving again as the waitress came past and asked Deidara if he needed anything. Sasori casually placed his arm over his work. He didn't need to be interrupted.

Deidara struggled to see what the puppeteer was carving into the table, but the red head's arm was obstructing his view. The only thing he could make out was the form of a thin, young person; whether it was male or female, he couldn't tell, it was androgynous.

Deidara had long since finished with his breakfast, but he remained at the table captivated by Sasori's carving. Sasori, who hadn't looked at the blond since they had been seated, had spread his work over half of the table and the waitress was beginning to notice that he was "marring" its surface.

She was a thin raven-haired girl with a sad look on her face. She opened her mouth to tell Sasori that he would have to pay for the table and for a replacement; she stopped, the words half formed, in awe.

Sasori felt her presence and heard the little gasping sound she made when she saw what he had created. Without his eyes ever sliding over the blond across from him, he looked up at the black haired waitress gaping like a goldfish at his work.

"Can I help you?" He smirked.

"I, uh…you're not supposed to be carving up the tables." The woman stuttered finally.

Sasori looked at her nametag and replied, "Well…Mitsuki, how would you like me to remedy the situation?"

"I'm going to go talk to the owner…I'll just be back, alright?" She tore her eyes away from the table's surface and ran behind a curtained door. Sasori reclined in his chair, and Deidara was able for the first time to see what Sasori had carved.

It was a tall, lithe woman with long flowing hair. She had chains all over her, covering her and chaining her to ground. There was a collar around her neck, and she was looking forlornly at a door toward the edge of the table. The collar connected to a thin leash, and the loop was wrapped around a cloaked man's bony fingers. She was very beautiful, and she was dressed in a tattered dress, falling off of her depraved but attractive form. Her hair was blowing in an imaginary wind, and it seemed to wrap around the kanji for death.

Next to the woman, were the words:

_You only have to die first…_

…_In order to live forever…_

…_You have to kill the human part of yourself..._

_It's easy to do _

_So do it for beauty_

_And for power _

_And because we're afraid death will take us_

_Regret it in the end,_

_Because you find there's something more_

Deidara looked up at the puppeteer with a curious look in his eye, "…Danna, yeah?" He whispered quietly.

Sasori still didn't look at him, but he nodded his head that he had heard the blond.

"What?" Deidara was looking at the puppeteer earnestly, trying to find some sort of emotion behind his indifferent exterior.

"It's…beautiful, yeah." The clay artist stated, giving up his search of Sasori's face.

For the first time since they had entered the small tea house, Sasori's eyes flickered over Deidara's form. "…Thank you." The red head replied curtly, and not at all how he had intended to say it.

Deidara opened his mouth to say something else, but he stopped when he saw the short, stocky owner of the tea shop following the waitress, Mitsuki.

"Here, sir." Mitsuki gestured shortly to the table Deidara and Sasori were sitting at.

He leaned over the table to examine the work Sasori had done over the past hour. "This is quite good." He looked up at Sasori, scrutinizing him closely. "You did this in an hour?"

"Yes." Sasori smirked.

"I see, I see." The owner stood up, and scratched his chubby chin with his hand. "Do you mind if I keep this. It really is exquisite."

That had clearly not been what Sasori was expecting, but he faltered for only a moment, "No, not at all."

The owner smiled, "Would you sign it, so I can give you credit?"

Sasori paused, thinking before he pulled out his carving knife and etched a small scorpion into the corner of the table with the cloaked man. "I'll know it was me, that's all that matters."

"Thank you. Your breakfast is my treat, as my gratitude." The man nodded at Deidara and walked away looking happy.

Mitsuki cocked her head to the side, "That really is something…Have a nice day."

Deidara and Sasori exited the tea shop and began their way back to the Akatsuki headquarters.

"Uhm, Sasori-danna, yeah?" Deidara said timidly.

Sasori stiffened at the tone, but answered, "What?"

"Did you really mean that, yeah…what you carved?" The blond watched the puppeteer carefully.

Sasori turned to Deidara and stated simply, "I don't waste time."

He left Deidara to ponder that and he moved on ahead.

"…I don't waste time…" Deidara repeated before hurrying to catch up with the puppet master.

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Actually, I lied a little bit. I DO own the little poem Sasori carved into the table.   
Reviews are good for your soul, and my soul ...which was stolen in a freak accident...so you will be helping me recover it.


	14. Tact

It's not been a good week for me. I've been sick for the past few days, and I've had a project for latin that I needed to work on. Bleh. But here is the newest chapter! Once again, I enjoyed reading your reviews, you are absolutely fantastic. .love.

Don't own a thing, Enjoy!

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Deidara spent the rest of the day trying to find a way of asking Sasori what he had really meant by what he had said after breakfast. The blond wasn't sure if it was his imagination running wild, or if it was Sasori's way of showing emotion. Did it mean what he thought it meant? If it did, what was Deidara going to do about it. The blond never could tell with Sasori, and that kept him interested, but it's not like he could wait forever.

This recent development left the blond between a rock and a hard place, if you'll excuse the slight pun. Sure, before he had been toying with the puppeteer, trying to provoke a reaction. Now that the blond had gotten what he wanted, he didn't know what to do. He knew that the puppeteer was, at the least entranced by him, and he thought it a lovely game to play; 'Can I get him to admit it' was the name of the game, and Sasori had done that this morning, if his ears had not deceived him.

Itachi was never part of the clay artist's agenda, but he was another thing that kept him interested. Itachi was a lot like Sasori, but in other ways he was a polar opposite. Deidara still wasn't sure how he'd managed to shatter the Uchiha's usual emotional restraint, but he was now bearing the brunt of the raven's affections; it wasn't that he minded, it just complicated things a bit.

Deidara wanted desperately to talk to Sasori, but there were two problems with that plan. The first being, he had no idea what he wanted to say, and the second being that he didn't know where the puppeteer had gone after returning to the headquarters earlier in the day. Deidara lifted himself lazily off of the grass and decided he would find the puppeteer.

-

Sasori was startled as Deidara burst into the room, shouting something about evil plants. Sasori opened one eye from his spot on the bed where he was trying to meditate. "What are you doing, brat?"

"Zetsu-san thinks it necessary for him to try to take a bite out of me when I'm not looking, yeah." Deidara grumbled.

The red-head didn't reply but opened his other eye and leaned back onto his hand.

"Uhm, danna, yeah?" Deidara ran his hand through his blond hair as he leaned against the door.

"…" Sasori gave his tacit approval for Deidara to say whatever it was that was on his mind.

"This morning, yeah…" Sasori watched the blond hesitate, nervously pulling at his shirt, refusing to look at Sasori. The red head smirked.

"What about this morning?" Sasori liked that he was back in control. He _was_ the puppeteer, after all.

Deidara sighed and looked up at Sasori, regaining his usual composure. "When you said that you don't waste time, you were referring to your work, yeah?"

Sasori nodded his head, wondering what this had to do with anything.

"And, yeah, you said that you regretted your decision." The blond looked up at him questioningly.

"Who said it had anything to do with me?" Sasori shifted uncomfortably.

Sasori noted that Deidara's sharp eye caught his movement, and the blond's voice became more confident.

"You regret your decision to live forever because you found something else that's more important than yourself, yeah." Deidara stated finally.

"…That's not it at all, idiot." Sasori growled. Sasori inwardly cursed the blond for how close he'd actually come to understanding what he had meant.

"Perhaps, yeah, but what's more important than yourself, danna?" Deidara stated with an air of confidence, pushing himself elegantly from the door.

Sasori marveled as Deidara arched his back, to push himself off the door. Sasori watched as Deidara smirked and removed his hair tie, clearly enjoying the look on the puppeteer's face.

"Danna, yeah, you really do lack tact." The clay artist came to sit beside the puppeteer on the bed. Sasori stiffened as he watched Deidara invade his personal space. The blond leaned into him and whispered, "I'd recommend you work on that, yeah, if I didn't think it was so cute."

Sasori dearly wished he could feel the hot breath of his partner on his neck, but due to his own weakness, that feeling would forever be a mystery. The words that had come from the clay artist didn't even register in Sasori's abused brain, he was much too occupied by Deidara's twisting body.

Sasori twitched nervously, "Tact?"

"Mmhmm." Deidara leaned closer to the puppeteer, who moved backward, at a loss for what to do next.

Sasori scooted away from the blond, and muttered, "In what way do I lack tact?"

Deidara looked slightly annoyed, "You have a staring problem, danna, yeah."

Sasori scooted further away from the blond, until he hit the wall. "You have an annoying speech pattern problem." Sasori spluttered.

Deidara no longer looked slightly annoyed, he looked very annoyed. "I take it back, yeah. Tact, danna; work on it, yeah." Deidara slid off of the puppeteer's bed, crossed the room in five strides and slammed the door.

"How do I do that?" Sasori wondered aloud. "Dammit." He cursed and flopped onto his back. "I'm such an idiot."

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Reading Entertaining Views Instigates Exceptional Work...on my part anyway.


	15. Frustration

Shweet. Next chappie, be very excited. I am. ::.happy face.:: Anyway...this is a little short, because...well there's a reason, it just won't be addressed at the moment. School is almost out, which means that I'll have a lot more time to write, which is good for everyone. Horray. I have finals soon, so things might get sticky. But, I'll try my best to keep the chapters from sucking.

Don't own..Enjoy!

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Deidara collapsed in frustration outside of Itachi and Kisame's room. He didn't know where else to go, in case someone were to come and disturb him. Itachi's room was down a secluded hallway that hardly any of the other members of Akatsuki used.

"Doesn't he understand that I'm as nervous as he is?" Deidara thought, feeling flustered. "Where's that bastard when I need him, yeah?" Deidara muttered, hoping that Itachi would appear around the corner.

Deidara growled and slammed his elbow backward into the door of Itachi's room. He immediately regretted this decision, as the door was hard and didn't give. "Damn."

"Well that was stupid." The blond looked up from his place on the floor, startled.

--

Sasori rolled over, thinking about what he would like to call nothing in particular, that is if nothing in particular was synonymous with blond hair, tanned muscled stomachs, and golden eyes.

"I don't know what his problem was." Sasori said quietly to himself, "I didn't do anything wrong." He resolutely tried to convince himself of that, but a nagging feeling kept telling him that he was wrong.

Sasori tried to imagine what it would have felt like to feel Deidara's hot breath on his throat; wasn't that something for intimate couples? Of course the fact that Deidara might be attracted to him in such a manner was pleasing, but Sasori couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with the both of them.

Sasori couldn't begin to fathom why he had been sending not so covert looks in the blond's direction. He couldn't understand why the blond fascinated him so, and most of all he couldn't find a reason why he wanted to feel the blond's skin under his fingertips.

Sasori was seriously doubting his sanity. "I don't stumble over myself, I don't stutter, and I don't want to feel his body heat, and I definitely have no desire to watch him twist underneath me in ecstasy." Sasori stated firmly. "Not at all."

"Too bad you're kidding yourself," said a cold voice from the door.

Sasori jerked himself upright and glowered at the man leaning casually in the doorway.

"You can't reason your way out of this, Sasori." Kisame grinned at the red head through sharp teeth.

Sasori rose from his bed, disgruntled by the other man's intrusion. "What do _you_ want?" He hissed.

"Test_y_." Kisame smirked, "What'd you say to him?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sasori tried to push past the taller nin, but, alas, no dice.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, puppet-boy."

"Don't call me puppet-boy." Sasori snarled. He was already embarrassed and Kisame had the unfortunate talent of making him feel worse than he already did.

"Che," Kisame smirked. "I don't know what it is about that blond that makes him able to melt emotional ice boxes like you and Itachi, but at the risk of sounding cliché, in the end, you're both going to get burned." Kisame smiled cynically at Sasori before letting him push past and enter the hallway.

Sasori contemplated going to find Deidara, but almost immediately dismissed it. What was he going to do when he found him, or better yet, what was he going to say? Sasori regretted getting so angry and leaving the safety of his room. Now he would have to turn around and be further harassed by Kisame.

"Dammit." Sasori growled. This just wasn't his day.

"Move." Sasori muttered.

Kisame raised an eyebrow at him, "Having trouble figuring out what you want?"

Sasori didn't reply as he clenched his jaw, biting back the retort he was dying to throw back.

"How very appropriate." Kisame smiled maliciously and allowed Sasori to wallow in his misery in peace.

--

Deidara looked confusedly up at Itachi, whose mouth twitched into a wry smile that did not reach his eyes.

"'Totchi-kun." Deidara whispered.

Itachi extended a hand and helped the blond up from the heap he had collapsed into on the floor. Deidara immediately snuggled into Itachi's arms. Itachi hesitantly wrapped his arms around the blond, wondering what had caused the sudden affection from the usually tentative clay artist.

"M-missed you, yeah." Deidara breathed quietly.

"Ah." Itachi tightened his grip.

"'Totchi-kun, yeah?" Deidara pulled away from him slightly.

Itachi didn't say anything, but he waited for Deidara to continue. "I need you."

Itachi began to speak but he stopped abruptly, because Deidara had begun trailing kisses down his throat.

"I _need_ you, yeah…right…now." He punctuated the words with a nip and he looked up into Itachi's black eyes.

Itachi smirked and rested his forehead on the blond's. "That can be arranged."

"Take me, ye—" Deidara whispered, and Itachi crushed their lips together.

Deidara fumbled with the door handle, as Itachi pressed himself closer to the blond, teeth raking the artist's neck. "Ah…door." Deidara was finally able to open it, and the two stumbled into the room.

Itachi deftly kicked the door shut and lead Deidara over to his bed, and the two fell onto the neatly made sheets.

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Review rhymes with you. 


	16. Confrontation

Chapter 16! Wa-hoo! Yes, I am very excited. I enjoyed writing this chapter. I couldn't work in the exact ending I wanted, but I am satisfied with how it did end up turning out. happy faces Ah, so we _do_ want some yaoi smex scenes? The only reason I didn't write it is because I had originally tagged this as 'T', _however_, if there is enough interest, I will write one...or two...a few. Let me know how you feel about it! Summer is approaching, which means I will have more time to write, you should be so lucky. Now, without further ado...

Chappie 16, don't own, Enjoy!

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Sasori shifted uncomfortably on his bed, pondering where Deidara could have gone. Kisame had left ages ago, but he had not returned, so Deidara couldn't be with Itachi could he? Sasori dismissed the troubling thought and rolled over, looking at the flat cement wall his bed was pressed against. He was just about to get up and search for the missing blond when he heard the door latch click. Sasori listened for movement, but heard none. He tensed, it wasn't Deidara, but he knew the chakra signature that was flaring out of control.

"What do you want _now_?" Sasori grumbled.

"Oi," Kisame sputtered, "C-come with me."

Sasori sat up discontentedly. "Why should I?"

"Because." Kisame still sounded spooked.

Sasori raised a perfectly shaped wooden eyebrow, but appeased the other man and got up to follow him.

"Che, what, are you afraid of the dark?" Sasori growled at Kisame when he realized where in the compound they were. "Needed me to walk you to your room?"

"…" Kisame didn't reply immediately, "…Idiot, I'm trying to help you."

"How is taking me for a walk in the middle of the night helping me? Please explain, because I fail to see how this is benefiting my existence." Sasori snarled, he was annoyed; Kisame was cleary fucking with him.

Kisame didn't respond, except with a glare as he stopped a few feet in front of the door to his room. Sasori stopped as well, looking at the taller man as if he was insane.

"What? Did you get a new paint job on the door?" Sasori muttered. Kisame shushed him.

"_Listen_, you stupid puppet." He whispered. Sasori paused in his sardonic musings and listened to whatever it was that had Kisame so worked up.

"Fucking hell…." Sasori whirled to face Kisame. "What the hell is your _problem_? HOW IS THIS _HELPING_ ME!?"

"I tho-" Kisame was cut off as Sasori aimed a punch at his face, which the shark-nin barely dodged.

Sasori growled in frustration and aimed a kick at Kisame's knees and followed with a nice left hook at his jaw. Kisame deftly caught Sasori's arm and restrained him quickly.

"GET OFF ME, THIS IS NOT HELPI—" Sasori had a hand shoved roughly across his mouth. He struggled in vain against the taller man's grip and bit into Kisame's hand.

"Shut up, you idiot." Kisame whispered, throwing a cautionary glance at the door. "Now, can I let you go with you causing a fuss?" Kisame growled, as if speaking to a disobedient small child.

Sasori glared with all his might at Kisame, but nodded his head slowly. Kisame pulled away from him and took a step back.

Kisame began to speak, but he was cut off by Sasori, "Can we go somewhere else, _anywhere_ else?"

Kisame nodded silently and moved down the corridor toward the main entrance hallway.

As soon as they reached their destination, Kisame stopped and turned to Sasori.

"_What the hell was that_?" Sasori snarled. He didn't give Kisame a chance to reply before he growled, "_Why_ did you do that…" Sasori's voice held a hint of hopelessness.

"Would you rather you didn't know." It wasn't a question.

Sasori spun away from Kisame and threw his fist into a nearby wall, cracking the cement. He continued to hit the wall, snarling in his anger and frustration, he only stopped when Kisame grabbed his arm again. Sasori cursed loudly and wrenched himself out of the shark-nin's grip, but with the force of his movement he went toppling to the ground.

"_Fuck_." Sasori sighed from his position on the ground. He realized that he had broken the joints on three of fingers.

"I, er, I'm going on a walk." Kisame mumbled and walked away as quickly as he could.

Sasori rested his head against the wall tiredly. The soaring feeling he had felt the previous afternoon had turned into a kamikaze crash. Just who did that blond idiot think he was? What made him think that it was okay for him to jerk people around on strings? Did he think he was going to get away with it? Sasori seethed with the rage he had just worked himself into.

--

Sasori stalked into his room, his temper still getting the better of him. Sasori had not seen Kisame since the incident. Sasori moved over to his bed and pulled out his box of scrolls. He was angry, which meant it was time to clean and maintenance.

Sasori had gotten half way through the first box of his scrolls when the door knob clicked and someone entered his room. He resisted the urge to turn around, because he knew who had just come in.

Sasori listened to Deidara shuffle toward him. "Hey Danna, yeah…" The blond started, but trailed off when he came nearer to the irate puppeteer.

Sasori gripped the scroll in his hand a great deal harder than was necessary as Deidara tried again, "You're, uhm, cleaning, yeah." Deidara sat on Sasori's bed casually.

Sasori didn't say anything as he threw the now slightly crumpled scroll into the pile of mess that was Deidara's side of the room. Sasori made up his mind.

"You haven't seen Kisame have you?" Sasori said quietly.

"Hmm? Oh, no, yeah. Are he and Itachi back already, yeah?" Deidara replied in what he thought was an innocent tone.

Sasori scowled openly at the blond's remark. "Yes, they've been back since last night."

"Well I haven't seen either of them, yeah." Deidara laid down on Sasori's bed, and watched the puppeteer.

"_You're a fucking liar_." Sasori couldn't hold back his anger. "_You are a fucking little_** liar**."

Deidara looked taken aback at the puppeteer's outburst. The blond opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off by a tirade from Sasori.

"I _know_ you saw Itachi, I heard you! _Don't_ you fucking deny it, I heard it, I _heard_ _you_ moaning his name! I don't know what you mean by any of this, but don't you, don't you act all coy with me if you are _just going to fuck him at the end of the day_!"

Deidara glared at Sasori, who was shaking with anger. "What do you want from me, danna, yeah? What the hell do you want, yeah!? Do you want me to apologize?!"

"I DON'T WANT A FUCKING _APOLOGY_, YOU IDIOT! WHAT I WANT, YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN'T GIVE TO ME, BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW _WHY_ I GET NERVOUS AROUND YOU, I WANT TO KNOW _WHY_ I CAN'T LOOK AWAY FROM YOU, AND I WANT TO KNOW _WHY I CARE SO MUCH ABOUT SOMEONE OTHER THAN MYSELF_!"

Sasori didn't give Deidara a chance to respond before he grabbed the surprised blond and pulled him onto the floor. Sasori didn't hesitate, he did what his instinct told him to do. He crushed his mouth against Deidara's thin pink lips.

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Since I've decided rhyming is totally uncalled for...I'll keep it simple. Review because you love my story. : ) 


	17. Decisions

Huzzah, for there is finally an update! Oh, gods, I am soo sorry for this terribly long wait. My computer has been a jerk. I don't know what I did to it, but it hates me. ::sigh:: But, I am finally able to write! Yay! Since I am almost at two hundred reviews, which is totally mind-boggling, I will be offering to do a request fic for my two hundreth reviewer; that is, if you're interested.

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Deidara was about to yell about being pulled onto the floor, but he found once he got there that he really didn't have any objections.

Yes, this was different than he had originally planned, but this was what he wanted, right?

Deidara stopped thinking and let himself enjoy the moment. He never would have imagined his first kiss with the puppeteer would be so emotion filled and fiery. He ran his tongue along the palate of Sasori's mouth; eagerly awaiting the twitch of slight annoyance that this movement caused, but it never came.

Deidara had a thought, "He couldn't feel that…" But that couldn't be right; Sasori just didn't want to acknowledge the discomfort because he was Sasori, right?"

Sasori pulled away slightly, letting up on his iron grip of the blond's arm. He looked like he was going to say something, but Deidara met the puppeteer's lips once more.

The two shared a few more kisses, though they were much tamer than the first, before Sasori pulled himself away from the blond once more and looked him in the eye.

"What does this mean?" Sasori asked quietly, his gravely voice riddled with uncertainty.

Deidara resisted the urge to roll his visible eye, "What do you want it to mean, yeah."

"I want it to mean that you fuck _me_, not Itachi." Sasori replied in the same tone he had used earlier.

Deidara resisted the urge to express the surprise he felt when Sasori said that. Had the puppeteer really been that jealous? He smiled softly, leaning into the red head, "That can be arranged."

Deidara trailed his fingers up and down Sasori's side, waiting for the puppeteer to move against him or at the least lean into the touch, but nothing happened. He just wasn't ticklish…right? Deidara locked lips with a surprised puppeteer and bit down on the red head's lip. Sasori didn't even notice. This was something very interesting that Deidara had overlooked.

Deidara broke the kiss, "Danna, yeah?"

Sasori looked distempered, "What?"

The blond reached out and stroked the puppeteer's pale cheek.

"What are you doing?" Sasori grumbled watching the blond.

Deidara hesitated, "You didn't feel that did you, hmm?" He said quietly.

Sasori narrowed his eyes at the blond. "No, what's your point?"

"I don't understand." Deidara whispered.

Sasori blinked, "What?"

Deidara reached toward Sasori again, brushing his fingers against the other's cheek, lips and neck. "You can't feel this, yeah?"

"No, what are you on about?" Sasori growled, growing uncomfortable.

"No matter how I touch you, you can't feel it, yeah?" Deidara replied quietly.

"I-" Sasori thought about it for a moment, "No." Sasori stated finally.

Silence filled the room, and Deidara didn't look at the puppeteer when he finally said, "I need to think, yeah."

Sasori's head snapped in the blond's direction, "What is there to think about?" He growled.

Deidara got to his feet, "A lot." Sasori made to grab for the clay artist but the blond moved out of his reach. Deidara slipped out the door, leaving Sasori to his own devices.

--

Deidara didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get somewhere else before he did anything stupid. He was so caught up in his muddled thoughts that he didn't realize he had run out of the compound and he didn't stop running until he was at the furthest edge of the forest.

Deidara let himself fall to the ground; he wasn't tired, but he felt so weary he could barely stand. A contradiction unto itself, but Deidara had never felt so conflicted. This was what he wanted, Sasori was what he wanted, but it wasn't what he wanted. How was he supposed to have a relationship with someone who can't feel? As much as he wanted it to work out, he could only see everything blowing up in his face; it was only natural.

"I'm a natural pessimist, yeah; everything is bound to blow up in my face. _How very fitting for a destruction artist?_" Deidara spat bitterly.

Deidara sat in contemplative silence. He went round and round in circles, and no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't getting anywhere. He flopped onto his back in frustration. He had been sitting here for hours. The canopy of the trees obstructed most of his view of the sky. He shifted until he could see the stars.

Deidara closed his eye and sighed. He opened it again to see a figure standing over him. He stood up so fast he became dizzy and fell into the visitor.

"Dei-kun…" The soft voice purred into the blond's neck.

Deidara jerked away and fidgeted in the shadows of the trees, avoiding the gaze of the other man. The raven haired man cocked his eyebrows and moved toward the blond.

"Please don't touch me, yeah." Deidara whispered to Itachi, who had closed the distance between them.

Itachi pulled his hand away from the blond's waist. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Deidara muttered, trying to move away from the other nin.

Itachi caught hold of the blond's wrist. "Tell me the truth."

Deidara looked Itachi in the eyes for the first time, "I-I got what I wanted, yeah, but it's not what I wanted."

Itachi frowned, "I don't understand."

"Well, it _is_ what I wanted, yeah…it's just…complicated." Deidara looked away. There was silence between them until Itachi delicately released the blond's arm.

"There's nothing I can do to change your mind?" Itachi replied softly. No matter how good he was at masking emotions, Deidara could sense the hurt in Itachi's voice.

Deidara remained silent. Truthfully, he didn't know if his feelings were going to change. Itachi shifted restlessly.

"I'm sorry, yeah." Deidara sighed.

"No you're not. Don't lie to me." Itachi's voice was firm and slightly angry.

Deidara bit back his retort of 'I'm not' and walked away, leaving Itachi's shaking form hidden in the trees.

--

Deidara slipped back into the compound and shuffled to his and Sasori's room. He was about to change everything.

Deidara took a deep breath before entering his room. "Sasori-danna, yeah?" He stepped into the room.

Sasori looked up from his place on the floor, almost exactly where Deidara had left him hours before. He was surrounded by scrolls.

"This is what I want." He smiled slightly, "You're what I want, yeah."

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Reviews are nice...like kittens. Reviews please! 


	18. Chakra and a Vendetta

Wow, I apologize for the horrifically long wait. I went away for a week, with every intention to update early before I left, but obviously that didn't happen. ::sweatdrop:: Anyway, thanks for all of the fantastic reviews! They really do blow my mind. My 200th reviewer was Zileto, so I will be writing a Hidan/Deidara smutty piece of goodness. I will probably be posting it as another story, because I am really quite into it. ::Smiles:: _Anyway_...enough of my babbling...

Don't Own, ENJOY!!

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Sasori looked up at Deidara, holding back a smile. "That's nice." He said and turned back to his scrolls.

He looked at the blond from the corner of his eye, and watched Deidara falter and his eye widen. "A-are you serious, yeah?" Sasori kept his face blank. "I told you that I wanted to be with you, yeah, and you say _that's nice_?"

Sasori set down his beloved scroll and turned to look at the other artist. "What did you want me to do, get up and jump for joy?" He replied sardonically. In truth the puppeteer was ecstatic about the blond's decision to be with him, he would just never let the blond see how very pleased he was. It wasn't his style.

Deidara paused and pursed his lips. "No…but you could at least look pleased, yeah."

Sasori smirked, "Well, I am pleased, come here."

Deidara pouted but complied. Sasori cleared a small spot for the blond on the floor next to him. He shifted slightly as the blond plopped next to him. He continued organizing his scrolls as he asked, "So…?"

Deidara leaned into Sasori and muttered, "So, what, yeah?"

"So why do you want to be with me?" Sasori replied good-naturedly.

Deidara looked at the red head in disbelief. "Are you serious, yeah?"

"Of course. Spill."

"That's not how it works, yeah." Deidara rolled his eyes.

Sasori frowned. "It's not?"

Deidara seemed to think for a moment before he replied, "No…at least, I think, yeah."

Sasori smirked, "I'm glad you're positive. I told you how I felt about you, brat."

Deidara grumbled. "That's different, yeah."

Sasori nudged Deidara off his shoulder. "No it's not."

The blond proceeded to poke Sasori in the back of the head. "I can't feel that, dumbass."

Deidara paused in his poking. "How did you know I did it, yeah?" He cocked his head.

Sasori set the scroll he had in his hand down and faced the blond. "One, because each time you poked me my head would jerk forward, and two there are chakra points in your finger tips."

Deidara mouthed the last few words Sasori said before asking, "What does that have to do with anything, yeah?"

Sasori rolled his eyes, "I can read your chakra signature." The blond sure was slow.

"I don't get it, yeah." _Really_ slow.

Sasori sighed, "I can tell exactly where you are, what you're doing, and the force of your action. Being an excellent puppeteer means you are able to mold and control your chakra really well; so I have quite a good sense of the motions of chakra, whether it's mine or someone else's. Your chakra is unmasked and it flared in annoyance, so I can feel it easily."

Deidara didn't say anything, but raised his hand to Sasori's face. Sasori watched him wearily. He sensed the blond's chakra move over his cheek. "What are you doing?"

"Could you feel that, yeah?" The blond tilted his head thoughtfully.

Sasori frowned, "Not in the sense that you're thinking of."

The blond trailed his fingertips up and down Sasori's cheek and neck. "But you can feel it, yeah?"

Sasori refrained from correcting the other nin, "Yeah…" He was lying through his teeth, but if it made the blond happy…"…yeah." He caught the artist's hand with his and interlaced their fingers.

"So tell me how _you_ feel." Sasori smirked. Talking about feelings obviously made the both of them nervous, but he couldn't help but smile as he watched his boyfriend squirm. '_My boyfriend_…' Sasori thought, the idea hitting him suddenly. He leaned forward, pecking the blond on the lips. "Why am I your boyfriend?" Sasori whispered in Deidara's ear.

"This is why, yeah." Deidara didn't look at Sasori, but placed the puppeteer's free hand on his chest.

"Hmm?" The red head questioned softly. The blond had already forgotten that Sasori couldn't feel the thumping in his chest.

Deidara met Sasori's eyes. "You don't even have to touch me and my heart's pounding." Deidara whispered, the heat of his breath ghosting over Sasori's unfeeling mouth.

--

Itachi stood by himself in the forest; hoping against hope that Deidara would slip out of the shadows to announce that it was a poorly planned joke and smile a lopsided, apologetic smile. Not for the first time in his life, Itachi was sorely disappointed.

He was shaking, whether it was in anger or sadness the raven haired man had no idea. This wasn't fair. Itachi understood Deidara, whereas the mobile pine tree had no clue how to act and behave. For Kami's sake the thing couldn't even feel properly. How had he lost to a piece of wood?

Itachi sank to the ground, leaning against a nearby tree. He stared at the sky for a long time, and didn't move when he heard someone approach him in the darkness.

"Itachi, are you…alright?" Kisame ground out hesitantly. He obviously wasn't good at these kinds of things.

Itachi grunted and turned away from his partner. As if Kisame could see well in the darkness. The sharingan wielder suddenly slammed his head violently into the tree he was resting against. He had made up his mind.

Kisame seemed to be about to question the raven's erratic behavior, but was unable to articulate a response. "Kisame." The blue nin quieted himself.

"Mark this the day I begin my vendetta against a one Akasuna no Sasori." Itachi muttered as he pulled out a kunai and slid it across his forearm. He proceeded to wipe the blood across the dent in the bark he recently created before lodging the kunai deep into the tree. "I will not lose."

Itachi stepped swiftly from the tree and began his trek back to the compound. There was planning to do.

--

Kisame watched his partner leave in disbelief. "_Vendetta_?" It took a lot to fire Itachi into a fighting spirit, but once he was motivated, there was almost no stopping him. Kisame sighed; he hated to say I told you so, but he really _had_ told Itachi that this was going to end messily.

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Reviews are delicious...kind of like itaxdeixsas 


	19. The Plan

Whew...horrendously long wait. Sorry about that, gomen a thousand times! v.v I had my idea...and I just couldn't get it into words. I'm really pleased with the way this came out, I hope you guys like it! Oooh, I'm all of a dither... ::SMILES::

Don't own, Enjoy!

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Sasori, it seemed, was oblivious to Itachi's absence from the compound; Deidara, however, was curious. The blond _had_ noticed that Itachi was conspicuously missing, but he wasn't sure what that meant. Was he sulking in his room, on a mission perhaps, or was he avoiding Deidara and Sasori? The clay artist had seen Kisame skulking about, but the shark-nin threw him dirty looks every time the blond opened his mouth to speak to him. The blond decided, against his better judgment, to find out where Itachi had gone.

Had the artist's plan worked, or would he have to do more to ensure it's complete and utter success? This entire ordeal had warped into something completely different from where it had started. _'But_,' the artist thought to himself, '_this could all work out better than I could have imagined_.'

Step one had been to get Itachi to agree to giving the blond taijutsu help, which had already been successfully completed; with the unforeseen addition of the Sharingan wielder's affection for the artist. Sure, the blond's animosity for the raven was still there, but he couldn't deny that he was physically attracted to Itachi. Itachi started it, and Deidara ran with it; it was perfect. Step two was to perfect his taijutsu; he'd thought long and hard about it, and taijustsu seemed to be the only way he could beat Itachi.

_'But now_,' the blond smiled, '_I've got an even better way to beat Itachi_.'

"Step three, ruin Uchiha Itachi, yeah." Deidara muttered excitedly, turning the corner and running into something hard. The blond fell to the floor spluttering.

Golden eyes looked up to see an amused puppeteer. The blond waited for the red head to offer him a hand up, but he was disappointed. Deidara heaved himself upright, muttering about rescuing pretty blonds from the floor.

Sasori smirked, "You're fine, and what's this I hear about 'ruin Uchiha Itachi'?"

Deidara's eye widened, "Shh, not here, yeah." The blond grabbed Sasori's hand and dragged him to their shared quarters.

Once both of them had entered the room, and Deidara was satisfied that the door was blocked, he joined Sasori on his bed and frowned.

"Before I tell you, yeah, you have to promise that you won't get mad." The blond watched his boyfriend with a serious look on his face.

Sasori narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the blond, "Why would I get mad?"

Deidara looked flustered, "Just promise, yeah."

The puppeteer sighed, "Fine…"

Deidara shifted in nervousness and excitement. "Okay, yeah, you know when I was staying with Itachi and we were working on something?"

Sasori frowned, "Yes."

"Well, he agreed to help me with hand to hand combat if I helped him learn my clay technique, there was no way he'd ever get it anyway--he's useless at it, yeah…"

"I'm lost." Sasori scrutinized the blond, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Deidara frowned, "I'm getting to it, yeah!

"Have I ever told you how I came to join Akatsuki, yeah?" Deidara asked the puppeteer softly.

"No, what does this have to do with anything?" Sasori looked disgruntled.

Deidara pursed his lips, "Everything."

Sasori stared at the blond, bemused. "I thought this was about Uchiha."

Deidara flopped backward onto the bed, "It _is_, yeah!

"Then start making sense." Sasori grumbled.

Deidara sat up again and looked at the puppeteer angrily, "If you'd just listen to me, yeah, we—"

"Alright, alright, I'm listening. Tell all."

The blond pouted, "Itachi came to collect me on leader-sama's orders, yeah. I didn't want to join; I wanted to keep my job as assassin for hire, yeah.

"So I tried to get out of it, but his sharingan…yeah. So after I was forced to join I swore I'd beat him, yeah, that I'd get back at him. But I'm hopeless when it comes to close combat, yeah, and I figured that'd be the only way to beat him; short of, well, opening the seal yeah." Deidara paused, and scrutinized Sasori's blank face.

"So all of this was a big plan to take down Itachi?" Sasori stated flatly, putting his question about 'the seal' to the side. "Then why did you…" Sasori looked away from the blond.

Deidara had a delighted look on his face. "Because I found a better way, yeah."

Sasori tilted his head to the side, "A better way, how?"

The blond looked manically happy, "Don't you get it, yeah? You know my taijutsu is less than average, yeah; Itachi hides behind his genjutsu, but my scope can negate it, and his taijutsu is great. Even with months of strict taijutsu training, yeah, I'm still terribly below average.

"I can't beat him in a physical fight, yeah, I know that."

Sasori's eyes were narrowed to slits, "I still don't—"

"I melted Mr. Ice-Prince Uchiha, yeah, I've got him wrapped around my finger and I can burn him and tear him to pieces." Deidara grinned.

At the word 'burn' Sasori stiffened; the blond next to him didn't seem to notice, he was so wrapped up in his brilliance. Hadn't Kisame said something similar…?

"You have a nasty personality." Sasori replied.

Deidara's smirk fell off his face, "You're one to talk, yeah, danna."

"I don't fuck with people's hearts for childish revenge." Sasori growled.

Deidara glared at the puppeteer, "Itachi hasn't got a heart."

"I wasn't talking about him." The red head hadn't meant to let this bit of information slip out, but the damage was done.

The blond blanched, how could he have been so stupid? "Sasori-danna, that's not—I didn't mean that you—I-"

"Save it." Sasori was seething, he got up to leave, but the blond caught his arm. Sasori didn't look at the clay artist, and jerked his arm out of the other's grasp.

"Sasori—" The door slammed, "...I love you." Deidara's words fell on deaf ears; the blond was alone in the room.

--

Sasori slammed his fist into the wall, over and over, cracking the cement and breaking the joints in his fingers; he didn't care.

"How could I have been so stupid?" He seethed, '_I was just part of his stupid plan, it doesn't mean anything to him like it does to me_!'

"So, so, _stupid_!" Sasori grunted as he snapped his wrist joint against the stone. "**Dammit**!" He slid to the floor, holding his wrist in place, cursing.

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Review, please.. Do you really need a concrete reason::smiles hopefully:: even though I kept you in terrible suspense...luffles?


	20. Slow Motion

So...I haven't updated in forever, but I redid this chapter around five times until I liked it. v.v; And I apologize a thousand times and a thousand times over again that I completely suck at life. However, I think I'll be able to update more regularly crosses fingers. So I finally got this chapter relatively okay while I was in my Nickelback binge...I was listening to the song...Slow Motion, and I was like, wow, this is great. So, if you don't know it, check it out. :

Don't own anything...except for a cold.

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Itachi was pacing wildly in his quarters, waiting for Kisame to return from the errand he'd sent him on. HE felt a pang of nervousness, and his stomach twisted uncomfortably; what if it didn't work and he made a fool of himself? Uchihas do _not_ make fools out themselves; that is, Uchihas also don't get nervous, nor do they fall in love with fickle blonds.

Itachi nearly lost his balance as his momentum nearly caused him to collide with the wall. "I-I'm not in love." He grumbled to himself, as he sat gracelessly on his bed. The brunette sighed and took a deep breath, trying to calm the pounding in his chest. He shook his head, trying to clear, hair falling into obsidian eyes, "I'm _not_."

The sharingan wielder clenched his fists in his sheets, "And even if I _was_, I would not admit it."

Kisame looked at his partner from his place in the doorway, a frown on his face. "Itachi-san..."

The brunette looked up hesitantly, and the shark-nin held out a takeout box and a small bag.

Itachi cleared his visage of any and all emotion, "Thank you, Kisame, but you didn't have to get me dinner…"

Kisame gave the sulky brunette a wry smile and muttered, "It was no problem. I'll see you later, there's something I need to do." The shark nin left the bags on the shelf near the door and excused himself.

Itachi massaged his temple tiredly before crossing the room and claiming the food and shopping bag. Why did he have such a headache? He pinched the bridge of his nose thoughtfully and opened the takeout box.

"Dango? He spoils me…" Itachi muttered as he munched on his treat.

--

Sasori twisted his wrist back in place and quickly rose from his spot on the ground when he heard heavy footsteps approaching him. The puppeteer rearranged his features into their usual perpetually bored expression and leaned against the wall in what he hoped was a casual demeanor. He looked up from pretending to study the joints of his fingers to see Kisame looking at him with an odd expression.

It looked to Sasori that Kisame was sizing him up, but what would the shark-nin want to fight him for? He certainly hadn't done anything to upset the usually carefree man. In the silent moment that passed between them, they stiffened as though positive the other was going to attack. When still neither moved, they relaxed a bit, but didn't say anything.

Sasori was unnerved, he could feel the other nin's yellow eyes boring into him, and he couldn't do anything about it. He had no idea what the other man wanted, but if Kisame didn't express his purpose soon Sasori was going to lose his temper. He opened his mouth to relay this information to the shark-nin but closed it again when something else broke the silence.

"Fuckin' A, Kakuzu!" Hidan's head had just flown down the hall, whizzing between the silent party. The swearing head landed on its face and cursed loudly. "I swear to Jashin when I get the fuckwit leader to make you put my fucking head back on, I'm going to fucking kill you, you bastard!"

Sasori and Kisame remained silent, merely staring at the cursing head on the floor struggling to roll off of its face. When Hidan finally righted himself he glanced at the two silent ninjas. "Well what the fuck are you doing just standing there, help me!" Neither moved. "Did you two shit-for-brains forget how to function? Quit having your silent staring contest and help me, ya assholes!"

Kisame raised an eyebrow and tilted his head upward. "If you want help, you shouldn't be so rude."

Hidan glared and snarled back at Kisame, "You fuckwit, I don't have time for this, now pick up my head and make that bastard Kakuzu put it back on my neck!"

Kisame frowned and muttered, "I don't have time for this either." Kisame walked over to where Hidan's head was lying and picked him up by his silver hair.

"OW, DAMMIT!" Hidan yelped, "Not the hair!"

Kisame smirked maliciously and tossed Hidan's head in the direction of Sasori. The startled red head barely managed to catch the cussing head and looked confusedly at the shark nin.

"You're a clever boy, figure something out." Kisame called over his shoulder as he passed the red head.

Sasori narrowed his eyes in displeasure. "I'm not a _boy_…" he mumbled as he looked at the head in his hands distastefully.

Hidan rolled his eyes, "I don't care what you are, just get your ass in gear and help me."

Sasori frowned, "I don't have time for this."

"Well, what a great thing we all have in common!" The immortal growled sarcastically.

The red head sneered at Hidan's head, "Shut up, will you?" Sasori began to walk back to his room.

"Where are you going? Kakuzu's that way you dumbass!" Hidan yelled and bit into Sasori's wooden hand.

Sasori didn't even glance down at the yelling head in his hands, "I don't care."

When the red head reached the door to his quarters he jerked it open, pried Hidan's teeth out of his hand, and threw him into the room at a sullen and, for a fraction of a second, hopeful Deidara.

The blond opened his mouth to say something to Sasori, but was met with another door slammed on his words. "I'm sorry…"

Sasori grumbled to himself as he stalked down the halls and out of the compound. This was really becoming a habit of his. He wandered out among the trees and perched himself on a rock.

'_Why does it always end this way_?' Sasori felt pathetic even thinking it, but it was really a question he wanted answered. _'Am I just meant to be unloved; is it karma catching up with me? Even when I was a child I had no one to love me. I just had my puppets, as always. And why of all things does my chest hurt? I don't have nerves or anything on my body that can actually feel. How is it that I _dofeel?'

Sasori inspected his hand where Hidan had bitten into the wood. He had made slight indentations, but it hadn't hurt Sasori in the least. If the red head had not seen the immortal's teeth biting him he never would have known it had happened until he inspected his hand.

--

Deidara called after Sasori desperately, hoping against hope he would come back and they would work it out like nothing had happened, like there had never been a misunderstanding.

Deidara cursed his stupidity as he began to throw his possessions across the room at the door. He just needed to break things; break like he'd done to Sasori's hope, break like his intentions were for Itachi, and break like his own sanity.

When the blond had finished hurling most of his smaller possessions across the room, he threw himself across his bed and cursed himself some more.

"Why is that I always fuck everything up, yeah?" The artist asked aloud, but received no answer. Deidara let a growl rumble in his throat as he thought about what he was going to do to try to fix everything.

Once again, Deidara let his mind wander to a certain red head bursting through the door and asking him if they could talk. Deidara sighed and rolled onto his side so he could see the door. It swung open.

Deidara sat up, looking hopefully at the crack of fluorescent light leaking in from the hallway. Sasori was framed in the doorway looking irritated and sulky. Before Deidara could call out to the red head, Sasori threw something at him and slammed the door.

"I'm sorry…" He spoke to another closed door. Deidara looked around, looking for whatever it was Sasori had tossed at him. It didn't take him long to locate it, because it was swearing loudly.

"Ano, Hidan-san, yeah?" Deidara frowned at the red-faced immortal's livid head.

Hidan, in his rage let out a growl before he began to yell even louder than he was before, "WILL SOMEBODY GET THAT BASTARD KAKUZU TO PUT MY FUCKING HEAD BACK ON MY FUCKING NECK, I'M SICK OF ALL OF YOUR SHIT AND I SWEAR IF I HADN'T SWORN NOT TO KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU PATHETIC FUCKS, JASHIN-SAMA WOULD BE SWIMMING IN YOUR BLOOD!"

Deidara blinked. "If you stop yelling I'll help you, yeah." Deidara replied, wincing as Hidan began to yell again.

"IT'S ABOUT FUCKIN' TIME!" Hidan shouted, "GETA MOVE ON DEIDARA-CHAN!"

Deidara narrowed his eyes at the immortal, "Don't call me that, yeah."

"Fine, fine, just help me, will ya?" Hidan growled exasperatedly. "This has been a pain in the ass, you know. First that bastard Kakuzu rips off my head with his god-forsaken tentacles and then that asshole Kisame manhandles me and fuckin' Sasori throws me across the room—"

"Wait, Kisame and Sasori, yeah?" Deidara interrupted Hidan in the middle of his rant.

Hidan tried to look up at the blond who was now carrying him down the hall toward his and Kakuzu's room. "Yeah, the shitheads were in the hallway Kakuzu threw me down, why do you ask Deidara-chan?"

"J-just curious, yeah. They don't really like each other, yeah, so it's odd that they'd be together." Deidara replied, his voice on edge.

Hidan looked like he was going to question the blond, but they had reached their destination and Deidara thrust Hidan's head at a tetchy Kakuzu and was on his way.

Deidara, for lack of a better thing to do, retired to his room and hoped that he and Sasori would be able to work things out. The blond drifted in and out of consciousness over the next couple hours; mind on the two things that were driving him crazy. Deidara was waking up from one of his short and restless spells of sleep when he heard the door creak open.

The blond blinked in the light from the hallway and squinted. "Sasori-danna, yeah?"

The red head stiffened and watched the blond out of the corner of his eyes. Sasori said nothing, and Deidara continued.

"Danna, yeah, I-I didn't mean—"

Sasori turned and looked at the other artist coldly. "What does it matter, I'm just another line in your tasteless joke."

Deidara flinched, "That's not true, yeah, if you would just—"

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say." Sasori threw at the blond maliciously.

Deidara bit his lip, "I'm sorry, yeah."

Sasori's face contorted, "You're a fucking little liar, and everyone here believes you're a liar."

The blond set his jaw, but didn't say anything. "None of your little bullshit apology matters, it's what, five minutes till your glory? Your little triumph over Uchiha? What are you going to do? Lie to him some more, fuck him, and then leave him in pieces on the floor?"

Deidara let Sasori keep yelling at him; he deserved it, and he knew it. Everything around him was falling apart so quickly, he wished it would slow down. If it would slow down, if it were in slow motion so he could at least reach out and catch the pieces before they hit the ground. Wasn't that how bad things happened, in slow motion? Deidara let his teeth sink into his lip, keeping himself from saying anything that would screw him over more, or worse, crying.

The puppeteer glared at the blond, bitterness set in every carved feature of his face. "But guess what? For me, it's not broken, just swollen…with _hate_."

Deidara bit his lip harder, piercing the tender flesh. A stream of blood leaked out over his teeth and down his chin, but he still didn't let the tears fall. He refused to cry in front of Sasori.

Sasori's lip curled as he watched Deidara fight with his own willpower. "How does it feel to be the manipulative bastard that gets fucked over?"

The blond swallowed painfully, "Stop it."

"No." The red head looked away from the shaking blond, "Go on, tell me; I bet you don't know. _I bet _you don't _care_."

Deidara's brow furrowed as he choked on his words. "Th-that's not true, yeah…"

Sasori had turned away from the blond, but was now looking at him over his shoulder, "So says the _liar_."

"Danna, yeah…" Deidara whispered, "I…love you…"

"I—" The red head was caught off guard. "—don't care about you." Sasori growled, glaring daggers at the wall, hating Deidara, and hating himself even more.

* * *

Review, pretty please with sugar, deixsas, and ramen on top?


	21. Lies

Ah, okay, so I tried a different kind of format for this chapter, so tell me what you think. Is it confusing at the end? I don't know. I was re-reading Brave New World, and I like the montage scene in chapter 3 so I tried something like that; for anyone who knows what I'm talking about. Anyway...the story is going to start getting more cannon, set to the shippuuden time period. Ahm...yeah.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. really.

* * *

Deidara bit his lip harder, and narrowed his eyes at the red head, who was shaking uncontrollably. _Why won't he look at me_? Deidara fidgeted on his bed as he watched the red head remain facing the wall. Now the blond was angry, if Sasori had the balls to say that he didn't care about him then fine, but do it to his face.

"Danna, if you're going to tell me that, look at me, yeah." Deidara mumbled, his voice strangled and choked.

Sasori's trembling ceased and he became frighteningly still, like a snake before it strikes. The red head turned slowly to face the blond, his face devoid of emotion. Deidara watched the puppeteer's mouth open, but heard nothing come out. Sasori shut his mouth, eyebrows furrowing. Deidara held his breath, trying to calm down his raging emotions, and the fluttering in his chest.

"Say it, danna, yeah. Say you hate me. Say you don't feel anything for me but contempt, yeah." Deidara pressed, a sneer on his red face.

Sasori opened his mouth again, and Deidara's breath caught in his throat. "I—" Sasori coughed. "I hate you."

Deidara smirked, Sasori's eyes fluttered away from him to gaze at a spot on the chipped wall behind his head. "Look at me, yeah, not the wall, danna."

Sasori set his jaw angrily and his eyes flickered over the blond's hopeful face. Deidara felt the weight of the look, tilted his head to the side, and rose from the bed.

"Danna…" Deidara reached out to touch Sasori, who drew back quickly. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't feel anything for me, yeah."

Sasori backed himself against the wall, desperate to get away from the advancing blond artist. Sasori refused to look at the blond hovering inches before him. He wanted to lash out, to push Deidara away, to run away and never have to think or feel again. That wasn't going to happen and he knew it, but he could imagine. If he had really wanted to get away he would have been gone by now. Why did he want to stay? He was genuinely furious with the blond before him studying his reactions, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything else to him. He couldn't take back what he'd said earlier, but he wished he could, and wishing had never gotten him anywhere.

Deidara advanced still closer, his gaze sweeping over Sasori's look of discomfort and guilt. "Sasori-danna, yeah…" Sasori's eyes flickered to meet the blond's. "…tell me you hate me." Deidara was a breath away.

Sasori struggled to focus on the clay artist in front of him, "…I can't..." His whisper was barely audible. "…I'd be lying." Sasori closed his eyes. Why had he said that; why had he put himself out in the open to get hurt? Why, when he had the opportunity hadn't he run away again, why hadn't he acted on the pent up anger, why was he allowing the blond to get so close?

Sasori felt a swirl of chakra dance across his lips. "Oh,_ this is why,_" was the only thing that crossed the red head's abused brain. Sasori forgot to think, and lost himself in a kiss he had promised himself he wouldn't submit to.

-

Kisame was pacing wildly, muttering to himself, displeased with the information he had just received. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all; it was too soon, they had just recovered enough members and already they were starting the third stage? "Damn."

Itachi wouldn't be pleased, however good it would be for him to be away from the manipulative blond. He hated to crush the brunette's misconstrued hopes, but he wanted to protect him, and make sure he was happy…maybe it was easier this way. Maybe it was a jab from fate. Hell if Kisame cared, it was a chance. "Even if it seems too soon, it's too late."

Deidara urged Sasori on, sweat coating his body, slipping down his throat, hitting the sheets. Sasori grunted, and Deidara arched off the mattress, chakra surged. Light-headed-ness, lethargy, warmth.

Itachi felt nauseous. An ominous shiver went down his spine. He let his knees buckle beneath him, and he retched. _A sign_, thought, _a bad one at that_. Itachi wiped his mouth and rose to his feet, legs shaky beneath him. He felt tired, so tired. He tried to keep his eyes open, but it was dark out. Dark meant sleep. Itachi's body crumpled on the floor as he lost consciousness.

Kisame was returning from his jaunt through the compound's grounds. He narrowed his eyes at the all-encompassing silence that filled the air. "Strange…"

He took his time strolling through the hallway, wondering where everyone was. He opened his door. He saw Itachi.

Sasori lay next to Deidara on the bed, mixed up thoughts in his head as he traced intricate patterns on the blond's arm.

Kisame checked Itachi's pulse, slightly elevated. Fever? Check. The shark-nin carefully picked up the brunette and laid him across his own bed, tilting his head slightly to the side. He ran to the bathroom to dampen a cloth to soothe the sharingan wielder's fever.

Deidara stirred, sleepily tightening his grip on the red head's waist.

Itachi shifted as something wet dripped down is forehead and cheeks.

Kisame breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Sasori smiled to himself.

"So you forgive me, yeah?"

"You've got a fever, Itachi-san."

"Do I?"

"Obviously."

"You've overworked yourself."

In two different rooms, four people sighed simultaneously.

Sasori shifted to get up and Deidara stiffened. Kisame turned toward the door and Itachi bit his lip.

"Don't go."

"I'm not going anywhere."

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Review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review review. Why? I typed those out manually.


	22. Numb

Okay, so you all probably thought I died, alas, tis not the case. I would have had it finished at the beginning of the month, had my appendix and I not had a falling out. Uhm...but here it is...kind of filler-y, I suppose, but the next 'arc' is coming soon, and the end. I've already written an ending, but depending on reader response I just might change it. I'd like to thank all of you for your reviews. I as of today have 99 story favorites, 321 reviews, 26K hits, and a lot of self-esteem.

I still don't own anything...except for my computer and smutty yaoi manga.

* * *

Kisame turned and looked at the brunette, grimacing as he struggled to sit up in his bed. "I just thought you'd want some rest."

Itachi rested his back against the wall, and looked at the shark-nin through his raven fringe. "I've had enough, but beside that, I've been stupid."

"No you're not." The ex-mist-nin muttered darkly as he approached Itachi.

The sharingan-wielder let out a sigh, and let his head fall back to the wall as he gazed at the ceiling. He remained silent and bit his lip as Kisame sat on the mattress. He could feel his partner's gaze, but he didn't shift his position, and he didn't say anything; he couldn't articulate what he wanted to say.

"Itachi-san…" The brunette moved to brush the hair from his eyes to look at Kisame, but the shark-nin had swept it away for him. "…you really should rest."

"I'm fine." Obsidian eyes narrowed at Kisame, who laughed.

"Just sleep, Itachi-san." Kisame replied, and quickly added, "Because I told you to," when he saw the question forming in the brunette's eyes. The ex-leaf-nin really was exhausted if his guard wasn't up…

Itachi frowned, but sunk back into the mattress, resting his head on his arms. Kisame, satisfied, got up to leave.

"I don't deserve you, Kisame." The shark-nin stopped dead. "You really are a great friend."

Kisame choked on his words, "Thanks, Itachi-san…" Inside he felt his stomach clench. _'Just twist the knife, why don't you…_' Kisame left, feeling somewhere between elated and defeated. Oh wait, it was numb.

-

"And here I thought you would want me to close the door." Sasori muttered into the blond's ear.

Deidara's face blanched as he stared at the open door; everyone in the compound had probably heard everything. "Danna, yeah…I'm s—"

Sasori nipped at the blond's ear, effectively quieting him. "It doesn't matter." Sasori stroked Deidara's cheek casually. "Let them hear."

This caught the blond's attention, and he tore his gaze away from the gaping door. "Huh?"

Sasori let an evil grin spread over his wooden features as he leaned over the blushing blond on the bed. The red head let a finger trail down Deidara's throat and trace his jugular.

"Let's play a game; I know how much you like them." Sasori smirked at the confused expression on the blond's face.

"What are you talking about, yeah?" Deidara's eye searched the redhead's face for a sign of joking, but he found none.

Sasori's other hand stroked the blond's side, eliciting a growl from the clay artist. "It's called the Quiet Game," he whispered into Deidara's ear. "My bet is, you'll lose."

Deidara glanced at the door and returned his gaze to Sasori who was looking down at him intently. "Well, what do I get if I win, yeah?"

Sasori pondered this for a moment before allowing a sadistic smirk slide onto his face. "You get to finish with me." Sasori leaned over the blond, elbows resting on the bed and framing the other artist's face. "Is it a deal?" He let his words hang in the air, and left his mouth less than a centimeter away from the blond's lips.

Deidara's uncovered eye drifted to look at the red head's lips before he raised an eyebrow and asked, "All I have to do is be quiet, yeah? That's not a challenge, Sasori-danna."

Sasori smirked and summoned chakra to his fingertips and traced the inside of the blond's thigh. Deidara bit his lip and grunted, trying to move himself closer to the red head's hand. The red head, however, removed it and smirked. "That's all it takes? I think you're going to have to practice, Deidara."

Sasori rolled off the blond, and sat on the edge of the bed. Deidara sat up and frowned, "That's not fair, yeah, you can't just—"

Sasori placed a finger on the blond's mouth and raised his eyebrows. "Ah, but I can. That was the deal. You lost."

"But—" Deidara twisted away from the other artist's hand, "I didn't know you were gonna do _that_, yeah!"

Sasori narrowed his eyes at the blond, "How very naïve of you. Practice makes perfect, Deidara, so practice keeping quiet, and we'll have some real _fun_." To emphasize his point he moved toward the blond once again and whispered huskily, "Doesn't that sound good, Dei-_kun_." He placed a hand on the blond's lower abdomen and let a pulse of chakra send chills down the blond's spine.

Deidara's face turned a faint pink as he bit his lip and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back to rest against the wall.

Sasori felt something catch in his throat. Deidara looked so…utterly…sexy.

The redhead got up before he did anything else foolish and muttered something about training, leaving the blond and all the thoughts the blond evoked behind.

-

On his way outside, Sasori was accosted by Tobi. The puppeteer looked disdainfully over his shoulder as the little annoyance called after him to 'wait up'.

"Sasori-sempai!" Tobi yelled, waving his arms over his head as he ran after the puppet.

"…" Sasori didn't say anything, but his eyes said 'go away'.

Tobi ignored this fact and plowed on, "Tobi had no idea you were such an exhibitionist, Sasori-sempai."

Sasori's eyes said 'die'. "I didn't know you were suicidal."

Tobi cocked his head to the side, showing his confusion, something his masked face couldn't. Sasori opened the compartment on his stomach, exposing his poison dripping insides.

"Ah, uhm, Tobi was just kidding, Sasori-sempai!" Tobi took a step back, "You know what? Tobi hear's Zetsu-sempai calling, Tobi is a good boy, Tobi is going now…" The shorter ninja dashed away.

Sasori growled. "Good boy, my ass."

-

After Kisame left his and Itachi's room, he turned the corner and punched the nearest wall, effectively destroying it.

He heard footsteps approaching quickly and blinked blankly as Kakuzu turned the corner.

"What the hell was that?" Kakuzu growled, taking in the shattered fragments of the wall that lay strewn around Kisame.

"Uh…I broke the wall?" Kisame replied blankly.

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed, "You're paying for that."

* * *

Review, because deep down, Sasori _is_ an exhibitionist.

&&happy holidays everyone!


	23. Departing

Well, well, well, look what we have...A new chapter! Wowee, it's been a long time...X( sorrrrrrry a thousand times. I've been really busy with school && it's really a crappy excuse, but it's the truth...bugger. Anywho...this is the end of the first part and there may or may not be a time skip in here...I haven't decided yet. haha. It has also come to my attention that it's almost over...wahhhh! I wouldlike to thank everyonefor reviewing and faving. It makes me dance and smile. 

In other news, I am poor and I own nothing. I spent all my moneys in Disney's Epcot in Japan. ...typical.  
I do however own my gorgeous kimono...that I am wearing for prom. huzzah! 

Without further ado...and more of my ridiculous blatherings...I give you...this...chapter of wonder. haha

* * *

After Sasori left, Deidara decided he was infinitely too tired to train today and remained in the warmth of the red head's sheets. He inhaled deeply and smelled sweat and sex; he smiled. He wrapped himself tighter in the blankets and fell asleep.

--

Deidara woke hours later to a flick on the forehead. Sasori was standing over him, a borderline malevolent look on his face.

"Well, well, look who's awake." The puppeteer smirked quietly.

Deidara rolled onto his back and stretched slightly as he yawned, "Danna, that hurt, yeah."

Sasori pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow. "No it didn't."

The blond smiled up at Sasori and sat up, letting the blankets pool in his lap. "What's up, yeah?"

Sasori's eyes followed the motion of the falling blankets and found himself unable to look away from the blond hair leading…down…down…. 

"I-uh," Sasori's articulation was seriously lacking around Deidara, he finally tore his eyes away and continued. "I've come to tell you we are all leaving headquarters to begin our missions."

Deidara leaned casually against the wall and blew at the sweaty hair sticking to his face. "So soon, yeah?" 

Sasori didn't respond, he was far too wrapped up in the blond's every movement. This was bad. This was very, very bad. 

"Danna?" The blond leaned forward and waved a tongued hand in front of Sasori's dazed face. 

Sasori struggled to focus on the hand in front of him and muttered, "What?"

"Why are we starting so soon, yeah? We can't have gotten everything in order yet, yeah…" The clay artist raised his visible eyebrow. 

Sasori was looking determinedly at the wall as he replied, "No, we haven't, but it's going to take a while before everything will be ready…so leader-sama has decided we should start now." 

"Ah," Deidara grunted, "When do we leave, yeah?"

Sasori chanced a glance at the blond in his bed, "As soon as you're packed, dressed, and ready." 

Deidara stretched elegantly and smirked at the red head. "You know, if we're going to be out on this mission for ages, yeah, we should really make use of having this comfortable bed while we've got it, hmm." 

_'So he does notice what he does to my brain'_. Sasori felt a lump in his throat, how it got there he hadn't a clue, but it was sure as hell there. "Uh…"

"Do you need some help, danna, yeah?" The blond leaned forward and pulled open the puppeteer's cloak. Sasori felt like he was melting. 

Sasori pushed the blond's hand away from his chest, slipped his cloak off swiftly and pounced on the smirking blond. He didn't care that they were supposed to be leaving, he didn't care that Deidara was a distraction, the only thing he cared about were the wild pulses of chakra that made his heart flutter. 

Somehow the red head's pants were gone and Deidara was panting in his ear, "I want you inside me, Sasori-danna, yeah."

This was dangerous. Sasori's brain shut off. 

--

Sasori looked around drowsily. He took note of the blond's head on his chest and their limbs tangled together. He smiled to himself and pulled the sticky bangs from the blond's face. It was dark.

Sasori froze, mid-sweep. "Fuck." Sasori bolted upright, upsetting the blond's sleep. 

"Danna, yeah…?" He groaned groggily. 

Sasori pulled Deidara behind him toward the bathroom, "We need to get going. Shower and grab your things, we have to go."

Deidara blinked in the darkness, "Wha—?" Sasori slammed the bathroom door in his face. He leaned against it staring into the darkness of their room trying to calm his racing thoughts. 

"Okay, it's okay, we don't even really know how long this is going to take, or even where the containers are…" Sasori rationalized, pacing the room, picking up his belongings and tossing what he didn't need back onto the floor. 

He would normally be tidier, but this was a problem, and it called for haste-even if that meant he had to forgo his cleanliness. 

Sasori paused in the middle of his pacing, listening absentmindedly to the running water in the other room. "There is definitely something I'm forgetting."

He checked his scrolls, all there. He checked his weapons pouch, all there, waiting to be worn. Worn…

"Clothes." Sasori could have died for his stupidity, luckily he's practically immortal.

The red head pulled his pants, fishnet top, and cloak on haphazardly and ran a distressed hand through his crimson hair. "Okay, now if Deidara would hurry his ass up…"

Sasori sat down on his bed, tapping his foot impatiently. "Shit, shit, shit." He wondered if Deidara had drowned, or needed his help, the brat had an awful lot of hair… 

Now he was making up excuses to get in the shower with the blond idiot. "Fuck."

He began banging his head against the wall in an effort to clear it of images of a certain blond with water streaming down his…."Oh god."

"Stop it, _stop it_, STOP IT!" Sasori emphasized each word with a pound on the wall, he was so preoccupied he didn't even hear the door to the bathroom open.

"Uhm, danna, yeah?" The blond asked confusedly.

Sasori's pounding stopped abruptly and he glanced in the direction of his…partner, boyfriend, lover? Who the hell cared anyway… This was out of control. 

"Get some damn clothes on!" Sasori restrained himself from pouncing on the blond. 

Deidara raised an eyebrow at the red head's erratic behavior. "Danna?" 

Without any further explanation Sasori got up, walked to the closet, and closed himself inside it. His brain was far too focused on the blond and his charm and his body…his naked wet body…"STOP IT!" He screamed silently at himself. 

Damn that towel. Damn that shower. Damn that blond. Sasori banged his head against the door. He was losing his mind.

--

Three near nervous breakdowns, four sloppy snogging sessions, and a handful of gropes later, Deidara and Sasori had finally exited their room and were finally on their way to complete their mission.

Sasori watched the blond strut along in front of him and muttered, "He's going to be the death of me."

--

Kisame finally decided that it was time to wake up the Uchiha. "Itachi-san…" He sat on his own bed. Itachi didn't move. "Itachi-san." He said louder.

Itachi still didn't move. "Itachi-san!" Kisame repeated, louder still. Itachi shifted in his sleep and opened an ebony eye. 

"What time is it?" Itachi sat up, looking at Kisame, completely alert as though he hadn't been sleeping for the past four hours.

The shark nin gazed silently at the black haired man across from him. "…"

"Kisame." Itachi narrowed his eyes at his partner. "What time is it?" 

"Just before dark, I'm not sure exactly." Kisame spoke evenly, watching for any sort of reaction from the brunette. A slight twitch of the eyebrow; Itachi was still tired, but he wasn't going to admit it. 

"I don't have time to just lie here…" Itachi replied calmly. 

Kisame got up from his bed and approached Itachi. "No, no you don't. We're supposed to be heading out for our mission as we speak."

Itachi made to get up but stumbled in his haste into Kisame. "Itachi-san…"

"I'm fine." Itachi took a step back and crossed his arms over his chest childishly. 

Kisame shook his head. "No…I think not." 

Itachi narrowed his eyes at his partner. "Che." Itachi let his focus stray from Kisame and to the open window, glaring at it with all his Uchiha might. 

Before Itachi could react, Kisame had grabbed him around the middle and heaved him over his shoulder. Itachi tried to make a noise, but he was so flustered he didn't know what to do. 

"I took the liberty of gathering your usual supplies, if there is anything else you require for the mission, Itachi-san?" Kisame said pleasantly as he bent to pick up his and Itachi's belongings. 

"Let go of me." Itachi said calmly, because Itachi doesn't shout.

Kisame ignored him and proceeded to the door of their room, snatching the brunette's cloak off the hook and heading into the deserted hallway.

"Stop molesting me!" Itachi added inflection into his voice.

"No."

* * *

Review or Kisame will change his mind. hehe. ja, ne!


	24. Rooms

Wahh! So I know it's taken me...forever...to update. I've been, once again, really busy lately. Xo  
Between work, school, and college stuff it's been crazy. However, I did give you guys a nice long one...well, long for me. Yay. You should be excited. haha...I'd also like to say thanks to all of you that have stuck with me through this. I think this will be the second last chapter for this time period; then I'll be starting around Shippuuden time. If I can control myself.

I was going to do a lemon...but then I realized I would have to change the rating. ...sigh...

Disclaimer: --ahem--i'm writing on ff . net

Enjoy!

* * *

Itachi had gone limp miles ago, but Kisame still kept a firm grip on the brunette over his shoulder

Itachi had gone limp hours ago, but Kisame still kept a firm grip on the brunette over his shoulder. He was a sneaky one, and Kisame knew it. Kisame also knew that the brunette didn't like to be touched, let alone thrown over someone's shoulder and carried around like a woman; he was going to be in trouble.

"Itachi-san?" Kisame asked hesitantly.

Itachi picked his head up from where it was resting against Kisame's back and grumbled, "Hnn?''

"Do you think we should stop in this town or the next?" Kisame asked, slowing his pace minutely.

Itachi remained quiet until Kisame stopped near a tree, shrouding them completely in shadow. "This town is fine." The Uchiha replied dryly.

Kisame smirked, "Wanna try for a free room Itachi-san?"

The shark-nin heard his partner give a huff, but it was soon followed by a 'sure'. Kisame hefted Itachi further up on his shoulder and muttered, "Then play dead."

Itachi muttered something that Kisame couldn't hear, but he let his body go limp against Kisame's once again.

--

Deidara was getting impatient; Sasori had gotten back inside Hiruko, and when Sasori was inside that god forsaken puppet he moved slower than the blond could handle. Deidara was itching to get his clay out and fly, anything to feel the wind in his hair. He glanced sideways at his partner who was trudging along next to him.

"Sasori-danna, yeah…" He began innocently, "How about if you store Hiruko in your scroll, yeah, and we go fly—"

"No way." Sasori's voice was curt and gruff.

Deidara turned to face the red head, "Please, danna, hmm?"

Sasori remained quiet for a while, "…You know I hate flying." He growled.

"Danna…" The blond lowered his voice, "Please, yeah?" He let his words hang in the air, husky and inviting.

Sasori stopped dead. "If you're going to pull that, then it's better that I stay inside my puppet."

Deidara smirked at Hiruko, "I'll behave…I promise, yeah."

Sasori rolled his eyes, an action Deidara couldn't see but the red head couldn't help himself. Deidara, behave? Honestly, who was he kidding?

--

Kisame pushed open the door of the first inn he found and proceeded inside, Itachi swaying limply over his shoulder. "God, Itachi-san, you're so bony." He muttered under his breath.

He looked around for the desk clerk, fixing a worried expression on his face. "Excuse me, we need help!" He smoothed out the roughness of his voice and called to the young woman sitting behind the desk.

She looked up at his pronouncement, and upon seeing Itachi slung over his shoulder, she got up and hurried to Kisame. "Oh! Is he alright, sir?"

Kisame attempted to look battle-weary. "I'm not sure, he collapsed from exhaustion about an hour ago. I tried to tell him it was too much, but he's just so driven…"

The girl was staring at Itachi's carefully blank face in awe. "I-if you'll follow me, I have a room you two could use for the night."

Kisame inwardly smirked, "We couldn't…we won't be able to pay you for it…" Kisame turned away from her, leaving it to Itachi to go for the kill.

The shark-nin felt Itachi shift slightly, and the girl gave a gasp of surprise. "Oh it's nothing, please, follow me." She cried.

Kisame smirked. 'Well done, Itachi-san.' "Thank you so much, ma'am." He turned to her, a pleasant expression on his usually harsh features.

She smiled in return and beckoned him to follow her up the stairs to what would be his and Itachi's room.

Once they reached the room, she let them in, slipping a key into Kisame's hand and bidding them goodnight, telling Kisame that if he or his friend needed anything they had but to ask. Kisame grinned at her and bid her goodnight, lifting Itachi gently off his shoulder and laying him on the bed. Once the door was closed, however, Itachi sat up and glared at the door.

"About time." He said curtly.

Kisame turned to his partner and smirked, "You liked it."

Itachi turned his gaze to his partner, but it softened, "Being man-handled?" He turned away from Kisame and muttered, "Not likely."

"Che," Kisame moved to the other side of the room and sat on the unoccupied bed. "You really play a good damsel in distress, Itachi-san. You had her swooning like she had a fever."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at Kisame, "I'm not a woman."

Kisame laughed at that, never in his life had he thought those words would come from Uchiha Itachi's mouth.

"I'm going to take a shower." Itachi got up from the bed and began to undress.

Kisame blinked stupidly before he was able to pull himself together. "_I'm_ gonna go see if I can get us some tea and dinner. I'll be back later." He muttered before leaving Itachi to his undressing.

--

Deidara let out a cry of excitement, Sasori was holding him tightly around the waist as they soared through the night sky. Flying was one of Deidara's favorite things, it granted him the freedom his life didn't.

"Deidara!" Sasori yelled into the blond's ear as the clay-artist guided the large clay bird into a loop.

The blond turned to look at his partner and smiled, "Sorry Danna, yeah—I just, I feel so free." He laughed. Something Sasori didn't hear him do on a regular basis.

"It's fine." Sasori replied quietly, as he nuzzled into the blond's neck, subconsciously gripping his partner tighter as they flew higher. He really hated flying, but he would do it if it made Deidara this happy. God, he sounded like a love sick school girl.

"Shit." The blond cursed loudly. They had just flown through a cloud and were now soaking wet.

Sasori marveled at the way the blond's hair clung to his back, face, and neck. Deidara turned to face him, looking apologetic. Sasori leaned in, stopping the sheepish apology on the blond's tongue as he met Deidara's slightly parted lips with his own.

The clay bird dropped altitude suddenly as Deidara's concentration ebbed. The two broke apart, Sasori gripping the blond's waist tight enough to bruise. Deidara gave a gasp of pain at the grip, and steadied the bird's flight.

"Sorry, Sasori-danna, yeah." Deidara gave the red head a lopsided grin.

Sasori loosened his grip on the blond minutely and glanced at the ground, trying to judge the distance between life and a splintery setback. "N-no worries."

"Did you want to camp out, yeah, or get a room?" Deidara asked Sasori as he looked down at the swiftly passing trees below them. They had perhaps reached the limits of Lightening Country.

Sasori pondered for a moment. "How much cash do we have?"

"Dunno, if we need some, I've got sticky fingers, yeah." Deidara glanced at Sasori mischievously.

Sasori pursed his lips and replied playfully, "You are such a disgrace to the ninja name."

Deidara smiled, "I do what I can, yeah."

"Let's get a room." Sasori whispered against the blond's neck.

"Hell yeah!" Deidara, without thinking, maneuvered the bird into a dive. Sasori winced at the yelp that had escaped his lips as he held onto his partner for dear life.

--

Kisame had been wandering around the town for about a half an hour now, surely Itachi was done and fully clothed again. 'There's no way he can't realize…' Kisame thought as he switched the dinner to his other hand. He was heading back to the inn, and hopefully the troublesome desk clerk had fallen asleep.

When he reached the inn he let out a sigh of relief when he saw the girl slumped over the table, snoring lightly. He crept past her and hurried up the stairs. Kisame balanced the takeout box and the tea he had picked up in one hand as he slid the key into the door.

He was surprised to see no one in the room. He placed the takeout box on Itachi's bed and knocked on the bathroom door lightly. "Itachi-san?" He called. He didn't hear any water.

"Did you get dinner?" Itachi's cool voice came from behind the door almost immediately.

Kisame took a step back from the door when he saw the knob turn. "Yeah."

Itachi appeared in the door way, shirtless, with his raven hair cascading down his back and shoulders.

Kisame could mentally picture his own mouth falling open comically and his face reddening. Luckily he had a bit more control of himself than that. "It's on your bed."

Itachi swept his long fingers through his damp hair, giving Kisame a twitch of the mouth and muttering, "Thanks."

Kisame blinked stupidly as the Uchiha brushed against him as he moved to get to the food. "I—shower." Kisame spat out finally, as his golden eyes watched the muscles of Itachi's back contort as he slipped that god forsaken shirt on again. He continued to watch as Itachi opened the box on the bed.

"Dango, Kisame?" Itachi's voice held something the shark nin hadn't heard before. "I didn't think you liked it."

Kisame shrugged, "It's your favorite." He didn't see the puzzled but slight smile that graced the Uchiha's features, he had already left the room for his much needed cold shower.

-- --

A thoroughly flustered and windswept puppeteer followed Deidara through the streets of a small town just outside the border of Lightening Country.

Sasori frowned as Deidara began to whistle lightly, slowing his pace. They had come upon a small group of men smoking on the corner.

"Excuse me, yeah." Deidara called as they approached the men, "Where could we find an inn?"

The men stopped talking. One of them looked up, shaking his shaggy brown hair from his eyes. He was silent, as though assessing the newcomers. Sasori's frown deepened. Not only was the blond drawing attention to them, but it seemed that the man was already suspicious.

The man looked as though he recognized the blond from somewhere but couldn't place where he knew him. Finally he spoke, his voice low and gravelly, "Down the main road, on the left."

Deidara smiled at the man, "Thanks, yeah. Any tea houses?"

"Across the street." The man narrowed his eyes at Deidara. "Haven't I seen you somewhere?"

Deidara's smile faltered momentarily, "I—uhm I dunno where you would have, yeah…thank you for your help." Sasori rolled his eyes at the blond who in his flustered haste ran smack into one of the men. "Sorry, yeah!" the blond yelped.

Sasori caught hold of his partner's arm and pulled him up the street, trying to get away from the group on the corner as fast as he could. As soon as they were out of sight, Sasori grumbled, "some shit you pulled back there." Sasori glanced at the blond he was dragging behind him. "What are you smirking about?"

Deidara pulled his arm from Sasori's grasp and reached into his pocket. The red head's mouth dropped open. The clay artist was holding two thick wallets and a money clip.

"How—but you—they—how did you get those?" Sasori spluttered.

Deidara's smirk widened, "A good ninja never reveals his secrets." The blond tucked the stolen goods back into his cloak, slipped his hand into Sasori's and lead him down the street toward the only inn in town.

-

As soon as Deidara closed the door to their room, Sasori shoved him against it. Deidara let out a yelp of surprise, "Wha—", which was quickly silenced by Sasori's mouth.

The red head tore at Deidara's cloak, finally slipping it off the blond's shoulders. Deidara let a pleased growl rumble in his throat. Sasori noted that Deidara's arms were around his neck and he smirked into the kiss. Sasori pulled away slightly, trailing light kisses along the clay artist's jaw line.

"I've—been waiting….all night." Sasori whispered into his partner's ear, nipping the lobe as he paused.

Deidara bit his lip as Sasori whispered into his ear. "D-danna." He choked out huskily.

Sasori pulled back enough to look into the blond's lustful gaze. "Hmm?"

Deidara didn't say anything as he studied Sasori's features. Ssaori raised an eyebrow inquisitively. Deidara moved closer, their mouths almost touching. "Me too."

Sasori let out a sarcastic laugh, "What a line." Deidara's lips met his and he was once again lost.

Although he would never know for sure, he imagined he could feel the silky skin of the blond's back and stomach underneath his fingertips. He imagined he could feel the way the blond's lips fit against his own. He imagined he could feel the hard-on he had given his lover. The two blindly stumbled their way to the bed before falling clumsily onto it.

Sasori rolled the blond onto his back and moved down to mark the blond's chest. He pulled the restricting fabric that was Deidara's shirt off swiftly and marveled at the clay artist's beauty.

Sasori's mouth assaulted the tender flesh beneath it as Deidara writhed under him. The red head paused in his teasing to mutter, "Suck." The puppeteer placed two fingers at Deidara's lips and the blond took them into his mouth, coating them with saliva.

Sasori moved to slip off the blond's pants when he heard a noise that made him die a little inside. "Deidara…"

Deidara groaned awkwardly. "Sorry, danna, yeah." He sat up, slipping his sweaty fringe behind his ear. "I haven't eaten all day."

Sasori rested his head against the blond's shoulder. "Get something quick, I hate waiting."

"But, Sasori-danna, yeah—" Deidara began but the red head cut him off.

"Go. Now." Sasori raised his head to meet the blond's gaze. "I'm not listening to your stomach growl in between pants and yells."

Deidara blushed and nodded at Sasori before he slid out from underneath him, got dressed, and exited quickly.

"Fucking human needs." Sasori growled as he flopped against the bed, nothing to do but wait until Deidara came back. 'Maybe I should have gone with him…'

Sasori didn't bother with his shirt, he slipped his cloak on and headed out the door hoping to catch up to the blond before he left the inn.

* * *

  
R e V i E w S --my anti-emo

...plus also I don't know what to do with the kisaxita I've gotten myself into. I think I like where it's going...I just dunno what to do with it...any suggestions?


	25. Hate

Okay, soooo, I've been an awful authoress in not updating for...months...:ahhh: But!! I'm leaving you with this :verrrry: special chapter, because I'm going on vacay for 2 weeks...soooo, I was hoping you could drown me with reviews? I'd love youuu all, and I'll be in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to do but write you a delicious next chapter!

There is a timeskip of nine years, which will rougly take us to the time of the Gaara-knapping. :smiles: However, in the course of those nine years, Deidei and Sasori-danna have a some ups and downs--which will be noted...as flashbacks in later chapters, so don't worry you haven't missed anything and you won't be completely in the dark. :sigh:

**WARNING**!! I'VE NOW CHANGED THIS FIC TO **MATURE**!!

there is a lemon. and it's tasty. because a lot of you have been asking, I decided to change it... maa, enjoy it!!

don't own anything...except for my delicious imagination.

* * *

9 Years Later.

-

"Dannaaa!" Deidara sighed, "I'm sick of all this planning, yeah." Deidara glanced down at Sasori beneath him, who merely opened an eye in annoyance.

"For the last time, Brat, get off me." He scowled when the blond remained straddled across his stomach.

Deidara removed his fingers from his hair, where he was presumably looking for split ends and placed them on Sasori's chest. "Maa, can't we just go in and blow everything to hell, yeah?

Sasori unlaced his fingers from behind his head and sat up suddenly, causing Deidara to fall backward into the grass. "No, we can't."

"What'd you do that for, Danna, yeah?" The blond sat up, rubbing his head.

Sasori glared at his partner, "I told you to get off of me."

Deidara ground his teeth before simpering, "You used to like it when I was on top, yeah, you got a better look at—"

"_Stop it_." Sasori's voice cut through the air dangerously.

The blond inwardly flinched at the puppeteer's tone, but kept his sardonic sneer firmly in place.

Sasori stood up and looked down at Deidara, "Now, if you're done acting like an insolent child…" Sasori's voice was carefully controlled to sound calm, but the blond heard the emotion behind it; still he pushed the puppeteer further.

"…how about an ex-boyfriend who still wants to fuck you as much as you want to fuck them, yeah…." Deidara muttered angrily under his breath.

Sasori's face contorted in fury, "You know we can't." His voice was warning Deidara not to press the matter.

"Why not? You don't deny it, yeah! I don't deny it, yeah, _so what's the damn problem_?" Deidara had gotten to his feet and his face reddened as his voice rose.

Sasori didn't say anything, only glaring harder than ever at the fuming blond in front of him. This only seemed to make Deidara angrier, and the clay artist took a step closer.

"One good reason, yeah, one good reason why we can't!" Deidara seethed at the red head before him.

For the sake of the argument, Sasori wanted to step back, but he couldn't, his body wouldn't move. He tried to respond, but he his mouth wouldn't work. He knew it was for the good of the mission, the good of the organization, and most of all for his own sanity.

"Come on Sasori-danna, yeah, give me one good reason why we can't be together and I'll never bring it up again!" Deidara's face was inches from Sasori's, and the red head had to fight with himself not to give in.

"Because…" Sasori began, glaring into the blond's eye half-heartedly, "…I…hate you."

"Prove it." Deidara spat before he roughly crushed his and Sasori's lips together.

Sasori was surprised as Deidara's lips met his own, and he was even more surprised when he realized, despite his earlier claims, he had no intention of pulling away. The puppeteer felt the blond's chakra encircle his neck and press desperately against his own, immobile mouth. Head muddled, he slid his hands up the blond's chest and rested them on Deidara's shoulders. Without warning, not that he could give any, he pushed Deidara forcefully from him, causing the blond to stumble backward.

A look of hurt flashed across the clay artist's features as he caught his balance against a tree. The look turned to surprise and fear as Sasori pinned him roughly against the tree and growled into his ear, "Is this what you want, Deidara?" He nipped at the juncture of the blond's jaw and neck and the clay artist grunted beneath him.

Sasori shoved a leg between the blond's as he continued to mark the other man's neck, lust growing as the artist sandwiched between the tree and himself struggled to control the pleased sounds echoing from his panting mouth.

Sasori snaked a hand up the blond's chest as Deidara moaned in his ear, "_Please… Danna, yeah…_" His wooden fingers twisted around a hardened nipple, causing Deidara to growl from deep in his throat. His other hand entwined itself in the clay artist's blond tresses, pressing himself closer to the blond to keep him from falling to the ground.

"_D-danna_…" Deidara's arms were around Sasori's neck, desperately hanging off the puppeteer as his knees buckled beneath him. Sasori thrust his hips forward into the blond's, eliciting a throaty moan from their owner. Sasori kissed frantically up the blond's throat, jaw, and over to his panting lips. Deidara's hips were grinding into his own as he hungrily assaulted the blond's mouth with his own.

Their mouths melded together just the way Sasori remembered, and his heart raced as he felt Deidara's chakra shiver beneath his touch. His fingers, no longer abusing the nipple beneath the other man's fishnet shirt, trailed slowly down to the waist band of Deidara's pants. He pushed chakra into his fingertips, and slid his hand into the clay artist's pants.

"_Ahh_!" The cry was muffled by Sasori's mouth as the blond twisted in his grip, trying to move himself closer to the red head.

Sasori tried to convince himself that the noises the blond was making at his touches weren't pleasing, but he was kidding himself. He wanted to hear more, he wanted to see more. He removed his hand from Deidara's hair and it joined the other at the blond's waist.

He yanked the pants down, revealing the blond's swollen member. He broke the kiss and reattached his mouth to the blond's neck, his right hand quickly stroked Deidara's length as the left pulled his own pants down hurriedly. Deidara tried to give Sasori more access to his neck, but the tree behind him was in the way, so he settled for thrusting his hips in time to Sasori's strokes. "Ahh, hn, _Danna_…" Deidara whimpered when Sasori's hand left him, grunting as he tried to create the delicious friction that the red head was denying him.

"Shut up," Sasori muttered into the blond's neck as he removed the leg that was holding the blond up, allowing him to push the artist's pants the rest of the way down. The blond struggled out of them and moaned as Sasori sucked on his pulse.

Sasori took a step forward, connecting their hips once more as he pulled Deidara's leg up and hooked it over his shoulder. He vaguely heard Deidara gasp as the puppeteer positioned himself at the blond's entrance. Deidara's body tensed at the anticipation of being completely filled. "Relax." Sasori commanded gruffly as he looked into Deidara's pleasure filled eyes.

Deidara's body slackened, and Sasori leaned closer, pushing himself slowly into the blond's opening. Sasori's lips were a breath away from the blond's flushed ones. "_Danna_…" Deidara whispered, and Sasori's lips were on his. A second later, a muffled cry escaped from the blond's throat as Sasori slammed himself fully into the clay artist.

Sasori waited a moment for Deidara to adjust to the feeling before he pulled himself almost all the way out and slammed back in again. Deidara cried out again into their bruising kiss, which Sasori broke to better hear the blond's moans and cries. Sasori moved the arm that was shouldering the blond's leg to rest against the tree, while the other pumped the blond in time with his thrusts.

Sasori kissed the blond's neck as he changed his angle, causing the blond to cry out again. One of the clay artist's hands had removed itself from his hair and was on his chest. Sasori looked at the blond's reddened face, he was biting his lip so hard it was bleeding. Sasori kissed the corner of the other man's mouth and Deidara's visible eye opened, half-lidded in pleasure. Deidara smiled lightly as his hand hovered over Sasori's chest. "Danna, yeah…" Sasori met the blond's gaze and he leaned in to kiss him.

As his lips met Deidara's he felt a soaring sensation in his chest, like an adrenaline pulse, and his body was flooded with euphoria. He gasped as his body shook with power. He heard the blond artist's voice echo around the wooded clearing as he called his name.

Sasori, in his panic at the new sensations in his body pulled out and away from the blond panting and shuddering before him. As he pulled away the feeling stopped and he looked to the blond, confused and slightly alarmed. "What did you do to me?" He accused.

Deidara struggled to remain standing as he smiled at the red head. "I-I-" He panted and took a step forward.

Sasori's eyes grew wide as he watched Deidara's hand reach toward his chest, just above where the only human part of him was kept; his heart. He watched Deidara's hand glow slightly with chakra as it moved toward him, he watched as the blond's slender fingers trailed down his chest and he closed his eyes at the shivers that ran through his core.

Sasori's arm caught the blond's and pulled it away from his heart. "Stop…" he whispered. "…we have to stop."

Deidara's brow furrowed as Sasori's words processed themselves in his mind. "But—"

Sasori opened his eyes sadly, "Deidara, we have to stop. I can't be responsible—"

"Danna, yeah, you just—I can't believe you, yeah!" Deidara spluttered, "I don't care what the consequences are, yeah, I just _want_ YOU!" He shouted at the puppeteer, who was inwardly fighting with himself.

"I'm sorry, Deidara, I didn't mean for this to happen." Sasori said finally. Deidara gaped at the puppeteer, unable to find the words he was looking for. "As shinobi, we can't afford to have this emotional attachment…" Sasori continued, trailing off, hoping that Deidara would understand what he meant.

Deidara muttered something under his breath. "What was that?" Sasori asked.

"I said, I don't care, yeah," Deidara replied, "I don't care if I die."

Sasori looked Deidara in the eye and whispered solemnly, "I do."

* * *

:happy sigh: I hope you enjoyed it, because if you're still interested, more lemon will happen. Yay! But...it's not going to be all mindless smut like some of my other fics...heh heh

Review, and I'll bring back something v. exciting for you! ...well, it's another chapter, but I'll bet you're interested... :smirk:


	26. Lying

I've been the worst person in the most awful way. BUT I'm back. I've been having a hard time finding time to write and and even harder time finding which direction I want to go. Having re-read everything, I decided I was going to take it in a different direction than I had originally intended. Uhm... let's disregard the '9 years later' business, it's much too long-- and let's say it's 3 years. ...I'll probably go back and edit later.

In other news, Happy Holidays, Spring, and anything else I've missed due to being an awful awful person.

Typical warnings, no smut this chapter, just flashbacks _in italics _and of course, boy love.

Enjoy!

* * *

Deidara watched helplessly as Sasori walked away after his admission, buckling his pants as he went. He wanted to call after the red head, but he couldn't figure out what to say. Knowing that Sasori wouldn't want his company he gathered up his clothing, redressed himself properly, and leaned against a tree adjacent from the one they'd used previously.

"Damn it." Deidara muttered to himself, "Damn it, hmm, damn it."

--

_Deidara was lying with his head resting in Sasori's lap, contentedly watching clouds float past as the red head, in a rare moment of tenderness, stroked his hair. The blond, ever lacking tact, blurted, "Sometimes I feel like a pervert to be sexing up a guy who looks 14, yeah."_

_Deidara removed his gaze from the sky as he realized Sasori's fingers had ceased moving through his hair, to look up at the red head._

_Sasori was regarding Deidara with a slightly annoyed tilt of the eyebrows as he replied, "Sometimes I feel like a pervert, because I'm giving it to a little boy half my age." He didn't look at Deidara as he said this, instead staring at a patch of grass next to him, unsure of what the blond's reaction would be._

_"Danna, you're right, yeah. You're disgusting," Deidara smirked, settling himself further into Sasori's lap._

_Unbeknownst to Deidara, whose gaze was upon the sky once more, Sasori let a small smile flit across his features as he remarked, "And sometimes I [just] wish you were dead."_

_Deidara didn't say anything, he just watched the swirls of clouds and the birds flying over-head, hoping Sasori was lying._

--

Deidara, not realizing he had fallen asleep, woke with a start when he felt the presence of someone standing over him. He immediately leapt to his feet, drawing a kunai.

"Relax, idiot." Sasori's cold voice cut through the silent night of the forest. "It's me."

Deidara's body relaxed slightly, the adrenaline still pumping through his system. "Ah, Sasori-danna, yeah…" he tried to sound calm, but the other man's presence was fueling his adrenaline.

"Did you…get enough sleep?" Sasori asked quietly, no longer looking at the shaking blond.

Deidara lowered the kunai, realizing how foolish he looked and tucked it away. "Y-yeah," he eyed Sasori, looking for a reaction.

Sasori gave him none and sat beneath the tree Deidara had so blatantly avoided. "We've got a couple hours until dawn breaks, we'll head out then." Sasori's voice was monotonic and void of any of the emotion it had held earlier that night. Deidara flinched at the deliberate coldness and settled himself in his previously vacated spot. The blond fell asleep once more, almost immediately.

Sasori, hearing the blond's deep, even breaths chanced a glance at his companion. The young man's hair cascaded over his shoulders, the moonlight reflecting brilliantly in its blond tint. Sasori couldn't help himself thinking that Deidara was indeed a beautiful person. As he replayed their fight in his head, he closed his eyes in regret and whispered, "I wish I was better at lying."

--

_Sasori saw the minute flash of hurt cross the blond's features after he'd said it. He felt a pang of regret, but realized it was something he couldn't take back, it would always be there- in the back of the blond's memory. _

_In an attempt to make up for his previous statement, Sasori resumed the stroking of the blond's hair, watching the tension in the clay artist's face gradually slacken. Sasori watched as the blond fell into a light sleep, and when he was sure the other could no longer hear, he whispered, "I didn't mean it."_

--

Sasori opened his eyes when he heard Deidara stirring, "Ready?" He asked, startling the blond.

Deidara had forgotten Sasori was there, and jumped at the other man's voice. He inwardly cursed himself for letting his guard down, even if it was just Sasori. "Let's go, yeah," Deidara grunted as he swept his hair back off his face to put his scope in place.

Sasori watched in silence as he waited for the blond, who was avoiding eye contact with him. Letting a huff of annoyance reverberate in the silence of the clearing, Sasori pulled the scroll containing Hiruko out of his pocket, summoned the puppet and climbed inside where he wouldn't have to worry about betraying more emotion to his partner.

As the pair left the clearing and headed toward the edge of the forest, Sasori watched Deidara's guarded movements. He realized that the blond was practically driving himself insane by not saying what was on his mind, and carefully controlling every movement he made. Sasori was sure that the bomber knew he was being scrutinized.

Sasori wanted to say something, but he couldn't work out how to explain himself. Finally, in a fit of irritation he decided that he didn't need to explain himself to the likes of Deidara, who in his opinion was acting like a child. Which, Sasori thought with a bit of mild disconcertion, he was.

Sasori watched the blond's hair flutter in the wind, revealing a gracefully arced, tanned neck. Sasori shook his head, Deidara was going to drive _him_ crazy, he'd given in to the blond's persuasion and now there was nothing to be done. He was a goner. Sasori wished dearly that he could lie to himself about how he felt.

The red head, having become lost in his thoughts, all of which were focused on the clay artist, was jarred back to reality when Deidara growled, "Stop staring, yeah." Deidara had stopped ahead of him, and was looking back at him.

Sasori didn't say anything at first, too busy examining the look of embarrassed, annoyance on his partner's face.

"It's annoying, yeah." Deidara continued, as though Sasori was ignoring him.

"Sorry." Sasori grumbled, moving past the blond.

Deidara stared after Sasori, a look of confusion now present on his features. 'Sorry?' he thought, 'Sasori doesn't say sorry.' Deidara began to follow the puppeteer, silently contemplating his strange behavior.

--

After hours of walking, Deidara finally sat down declaring he wasn't going to walk any more until he'd had something to eat. Sasori stopped ahead, and muttered, "You're not going to get any food sitting there."

Deidara's lip curled as he simpered, "I can't budge, yeah, I'm exhausted."

Sasori continued once more, leaving Deidara behind, saying only, "Stubborn brat."

Deidara glared after Sasori and yelled, "Insensitive bastard!" The blond wondered vaguely if Sasori would end up waiting for him or if he'd leave him to catch up later. Deidara shook his head to himself, smiling wryly, Sasori hated waiting. "Good." He remarked quietly, "He can wait."

Deidara had long come to realize that by sitting down and refusing to go any further he had made a poor decision, but he was sticking to his principles. He said he wasn't moving, and he wasn't until he got some food.

By the time he had counted all the rocks and discerned them from all the pebbles in the area-twice- he had come to his second realization: Sasori was going to be very angry with him.

The blond flopped backward hopelessly, and wondered if he should just let himself die out here. He'd always imagined himself dying in a self-sacrificing blast of artistic symbolism, not starvation by stubborn stupidity.

Finally, after an internal struggle of principles and rationality, Deidara pulled his thoughts together and contemplated actually getting up and tracking down Sasori. As the blond was sitting up, he noticed that there was someone moving toward him. It was a familiar someone, and a someone who looked wholly cross at him.

"Sasori-danna?" Deidara asked, wondering if he was hallucinating due to famine.

Sasori, who had exited Hiruko for the journey back, glared at the blond and grunted, "You are the most stubborn brat I have ever met, do you know that?"

Deidara, however, wasn't paying attention to the red head's reply; his gaze was fixed on the takeaway boxes in Sasori's clenched fist. "You brought me food, yeah?" Deidara asked, surprise evident in his tone.

Sasori didn't reply, he continued to glare at the blond until he came to stand in front of him. The puppeteer thrust the boxes at the blond and muttered, "Eat and let's get going, brat."

Deidara took the boxes happily and tore into their contents. He looked up at Sasori, who was standing awkwardly over him and said through a mouthful of food, "Sasori-danna, you're the most wonderful person, yeah!"

Sasori's heart leapt in his chest, but he only said, "Shut up and eat."

* * *

So, uh, what'd you think? Reviews are awesome, seriously, they're self-validation. The kind you can't buy in a store on a sticker sheet.

Semester's neaRly over, which mEans I'm going to be trying excessiVey hard to get chapters to you on a regular basIs again, evEn if the Work kills me...


	27. Flaws

I am a terrible authoress. I go and leave you hanging, but I promise I will finish this story if it kills me. My apologies cannot even be described. Literally, I ache that I've left this unfinished.

In happier news, I want to dedicate this chapter to everyone who's stuck with me throughout this project, commented and encouraged me to continue. I hope you all enjoy.

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When Deidara had finished eating he looked up at Sasori, who was ignoring him; too busy watching a bird circle overhead. The blond watched silently as Sasori's hand gently traced a spot on the back of his head, red hair coiling over the pale fingers. Curious, Deidara opened his mouth to ask the puppeteer about it but remained silent as Sasori's gaze fell upon him.

"Ready to leave, princess?" Sasori's voice was laced with an emotion that Deidara had never heard in the other man's voice before.

The blond got to his feet nodding, and grumbled, "Don't call me princess."

Sasori turned away from the blond, hiding the smirk that flew across his face at the blond's comment. As an afterthought the red head reached into his pocket to pull out Hiruko's scroll, the easier it was to hide from the blond the easier it would be to keep himself in line and his head on straight.

Deidara had walked passed him by the time he had climbed inside the hollow interior of the puppet and so he had to work quickly to catch up before he could set an easier pace for himself. There was a long walk ahead of them, and without thinking, Sasori's hand found the small indentation on the back of his head.

_Sasori felt something small and hard hit him in the back of the head. The only reason he noticed it in the first place was that one, his head jerked forward when it hit and two, it was covered in a fine layer of chakra. A certain Iwa ninja's chakra. Sasori turned slowly to see a seething blond approximately fifty paces behind him, he looked down to see a rock still faintly glowing with chakra. He looked back up at the blond and—_

The puppeteer's reverie was cut off by a question from his partner. Having not been paying attention, Sasori found it difficult to answer. "What?" He growled.

"I mean, not that it's any of my business, yeah, but whenever you're deep in thought… you always touch the back of your head… like something's there, yeah." Deidara's words tumbled out of his mouth, and hit Sasori like a slap in the face.

How could he be so transparent? "It's none of your business, brat."

Deidara was silent for a moment before he asked quietly, "Would it really be that bad to let it be, yeah?"

Try as he might to ignore it, Sasori heard the dejection in the blond's voice but couldn't find anything to say to ease the troubled clay artist's mind. The two carried on in silence, lost in thought, Sasori's fingers slowly tracing the indent on the back of his head.

_"You're the most selfish son-of-a-bitch I've ever met, danna yeah." Deidara was yelling at him from where he'd thrown the rock. Sasori wondered briefly why he'd chosen rock instead of clay bomb, but that question was void when he felt a vague flicker of chakra near his ankles. Sasori looked down to see tiny creatures made from clay bubbling dangerously at his feet. Looking up at the blond, he realized his danger and nimbly back-flipped away from the near exploded bombs. Just in time. _

_"What the hell is your problem, brat?" Sasori grunted as he crouched in a tree, his vision of the blond obscured by the smoke and debris from the explosion that had wrecked the place he had been standing only moments ago. _

_Deidara had followed Sasori's escape route and was standing at the base of the tree, glaring daggers up at the puppeteer. "You're my problem, yeah. You tell me you love me, but throw me aside because I'm not perfect, because I won't last forever. Because you're selfish and don't want to get hurt, yeah. Well, I'll tell you something danna, yeah, you're not perfect and you're not going to last forever either. Beauty and art is in the moment. Love is in the moment, yeah. Life is in the moment. The time when it's most beautiful is when it's gone, the last instant of its existence is the most precious because you're supposed to value what you have. The beauty of destruction is that there was something worth destroying, hmm."_

_Sasori glared down at Deidara, listening to his passionate words, letting them hit him like physical blows never could._

_"Then value the end of this." Sasori said coldly, "You said it yourself, that the end is the most beautiful, I can only assume you're merely trying to savor it."_

_Deidara fumbled for words, "That's not what I—"_

_"The beauty of destruction is that there was something worth destroying…" The red head repeated the blond's words to him._

_The clay artist clenched his jaw, visible eye narrowed at Sasori. "There's something here, something that's worth getting destroyed, yeah, but not yet… there's so much more to add to the piece." Having said that, Deidara turned on his heel, disappearing in a cloud of smoke._

_Sasori frowned at the spot where Deidara had just disappeared and slid his fingers into his hair before he remembered, "Damn it." He fed chakra into the tips of his fingers as he felt the back of his head. There was a chip missing from where the rock had hit him. "I guess you were right brat, I'm not perfect." The words came out bitter, because everything that the blond had said was true._

Sasori stopped suddenly, startling his blond partner. The puppeteer wanted to say something to the blond, anything to start conversation. He was going to drive himself mad thinking about the past. Deidara had also stopped and was looking at Sasori with a hint of hope on his face, as if he knew what was going on in the other man's head.

"Danna, yeah?" He asked quietly, not wanting to put off the red head from what he had on the tip of his tongue.

Sasori came to his senses when the blond man spoke, and anything he had been about to say was swallowed, the words unsaid repeating themselves over and over in his mind as he tried to make an excuse for stopping so abruptly. "I…thought I heard something."

Deidara gave him a blank look, like he didn't quite believe him, but didn't press for anything more. Sasori once again resumed his stride next to the blond, who was now casting furtive glances at him every now and then. An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Deidara knew Sasori wasn't telling the truth about hearing something and Sasori knew that Deidara knew, and yet he couldn't bring himself to say anything further. His mind too twisted in knots for him to trust his own judgment for the time being.

The silence between them continued, both being eaten up by their own thoughts.

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."_ Sasori mouthed the words over and over again.

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I can't explain how much reviews are appreciated, sometimes they're what makes or breaks my motivation for a new chapter. It's a beautiful thing.


	28. Accidents

Here it is, Chapter 28. It only took...a year and a half-ish. I hope anyone who is still with me enjoys it and that new readers will as well.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, read, and enjoyed, it means so much.

I still don't own anything. Warnings include boysmut during the first flashback. Enjoy.

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Having fallen into a habit of self-deprecating sentimentality, Sasori's thoughts returned to a time when they were both happy and a time in which he began to realize just how dangerous it was for the pair of them to be together. He recalled it easily; comparing it to the recent relations they'd had beneath the tree in the forest.

_Sasori trailed hot kisses down the blond's throat, nimble fingers tracing ghostly patterns over the soft skin of his stomach. Deidara's back arched to the touch as he tried to stifle a guttural moan in the red head's hair. Sasori's other hand was busy preparing the blond's entrance. The clay artist's hips bucked into his hand, and the owner panted, "Danna…now, un."_

_Without question Sasori complied, thrusting into the wanton blond. He felt ripples of chakra spike uncontrollably in the other artist's fingertips as they raked his back and through his hair. _

_"Move." Deidara whispered huskily. There was no way Sasori could deny him that demand._

_He pulled away from the blond's throat to marvel at the writhing body beneath him. Gripping Deidara's weeping member loosely, he began to stoke in alternating time with his rhythm. Half-lidded eyes met his and he leaned forward to crush their lips together. Deidara moaned into his mouth and he felt the ecstasy reverberating through his head. It was like Deidara was everywhere inside him. He pulled away to nip along the blond's jawline as Deidara thrust wildly into his hand and against him. One arm was haphazardly slung over his neck and the other moving up and down his chest, Sasori felt the blond shudder under him. Without warning he was overcome with a strange feeling, like his entire body was on fire; he opened his eyes to watch Deidara arch into him, biting his lip in rapture as his seed spilled over his and Sasori's stomachs. _

_"I love you." The words were out before Sasori could stop himself. Silence, except for Deidara's attempt to catch his breath. _

_Sasori rolled off the panting blond beneath him, the words he had spoken hung in the air like a bomb blast. _I love you_, three words he had let slip. He couldn't be sure that Deidara had even heard him because the clay artist hadn't said anything, he had completely ignored the utterance. _

_Sasori's mind raced as he waited for Deidara to say something, anything. Deidara, however, remained silent as he settled next to Sasori, resting his chin on the red head's chest. Tentatively, Sasori wrapped an arm around the blond. He supposed that this was a signal for them to ignore what he had said. _

Sasori pondered the two very different reactions he'd had to Deidara messing with the chakra flow of his heart. The first time he'd done it, Sasori had blurted three words which he could never take back. Those three words, which Deidara would come to find to be true and those three words which now haunted him and would continue to haunt him for as long as the blond remained his partner; those were the words which were eating away at him as they walked in this distressed silence.

The latest time Deidara had done it, which was just yesterday, it had startled Sasori so much that he found it ridiculously hard to be in the clay artist's presence without wanting to try the miraculous sensation again. He had made it so long without so much as a kiss from the blond, and here he was- freshly given in to temptation, feeling guilty and yet, wanting nothing more than to do it again. All the effort of the past three years, two months and five days-not that he had been counting- had been for nothing. He was back where he started, caught up in the blond and the pleasures which came with being caught.

There were two directions in which he could proceed. The first, and the easiest, would be to give in to his and Deidara's wishes. The second, which had recently been proven ineffective, would be to ignore the other artist's attempts to rekindle their…past mistakes, Sasori would call them.

Sasori marveled over the labor that was ignoring the blond, it was obvious to the both of them that there was something still there, clawing at the pair of them, refusing to let go. He had thought that by ignoring it, it would wither- leaving him with peace of mind and a rational head; he was terribly wrong. Though his feelings had not intensified, to his knowledge, neither had they weakened. But if he gave in, if he gave in would he doom the pair of them? Would they be able to continue the mission of collecting the Bijuu without risking the mission itself, let alone themselves?

The bigger question was: would he be willing to risk it?

Sasori had, afterall, already proven himself a liar, a coward and completely insensitive. He had blurted plenty of things he didn't mean and plenty more he had never meant to reveal. The red head was forcibly reminded of the accidental conversation following the unintentional three word declaration of feelings.

_"If you hated him so much, why did you choose Itachi?" Sasori nearly hit himself as the question that was plaguing him finally slipped out. He managed, however, to refrain from speaking aloud the last part of the question; 'to make me jealous.'_

_Deidara was quiet for a moment and Sasori hoped that he had fallen asleep. The blond spoke finally, "Akasuna no Sasori, master of pillow talk, hmm," the words were muffled because the clay artist was speaking into his shoulder. _

_Sasori winced at his own stupidity. He'd never had these problems before, he'd never spoken what was on his mind without careful articulation, this was not only frustrating but embarrassing. _

_Sasori thought that Deidara would ignore the question, but when the blond spoke again he stated calmly, "I hate him for beating me at my own game, getting me dragged into this organization without my own choosing. I hate him for taking away my freedom and my piece of mind, hmm. I wanted him to feel humiliated and I wanted him to suffer." The words were harsh, but the blond's voice remained calm. "Not to mention, I figured _he_ would bother you most."_

_Sasori almost missed the dry humor in those words, "I think Kisame, actually, would have been worse…"_

_Deidara snorted, "I do have taste, you know, danna, yeah."_

_"Thank god for that." _

Sasori glanced at the blond walking next to him, Deidara seemed to be in his own world. The puppeteer couldn't help but wonder what the blond was thinking. Was he thinking the same things Sasori was; could they jeopardize the mission and their livelihood for their whims? The blond's brow was furrowed under his fringe, Sasori thought it looked like he had come to a decision.

The red head found himself to be correct when Deidara said his name, "Sasori-danna…"

"Mm." Sasori wasn't sure what to expect.

"I…apologize for my impertinence. We've worked for three years to complete this part of the mission yeah, and now that we are so close to succeeding…" Deidara paused, "I realize that we should approach the coming trials professionally, hmm."

They had come to a stop, Deidara was slightly behind him so he couldn't see the expression on the clay artist's face. Sasori wasn't sure what to say. "I see." Sasori hesitated before adding, "Perhaps…after this is taken care of…" He didn't want to say the words that were dancing on the tip of his tongue. This was going to be dangerous, and the blond was very much destructible. Could they really focus completely on the task at hand when such a promising conclusion lay before them?

Deidara had resumed his previous pace, and chose not to reply to Sasori's statement until after he had moved slightly past the puppeteer; ensuring that Sasori would be unable to see his expression. "Perhaps, yeah." Sasori couldn't see it, but there was a small smile on the blond's face; a smile of hope that all their research would pay off and that everything would go back to the way it was before they realized the gravity of the situation at hand. It was a smile that wasn't quite happy, but had no reason yet to be sad.

Sasori wore the same hidden smile.

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I think I have changed a lot as a writer, whether this is good or bad, you'll have to tell me. Thank you.


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